Summer 2004
Volume II, Issue 4

The Latimer Group is solely focused on helping executives and sales professionals develop world-class communication, public speaking and presentation skills.

Our programs are customized and specifically designed to create authentic presentations delivered in the voice of the speaker.

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Executing Your Brand Correctly and Consistently People do what you inspect, not what you expect.     - Lou Gerstner, Jr

In the Spotlight Ronald Reagan

This is a real-life story of a recent client of The Latimer Group. It’s a familiar story of a unique company with a unique product in a commodity industry. Their product frequently needs to be explained to the market-place because it is often misunderstood, and it has been a challenge for them to convince the market to pay a premium price for their product, despite its apparent value.

Over the last two years, the organization has spent significant resources improving their marketing efforts to bolster sagging sales numbers. They worked with a brand marketing firm to create a new message and position for their signature product. However, despite their best efforts, sales continued to lag behind the organization’s expectations.

As The Latimer Group sat across the table from them last fall discussing this problem, the executives’ frustration was obvious. They had eliminated several possible reasons for their lagging sales performance, and were looking for the answer.

Let’s take a closer look at their problem, our solution, and some things you can think about in reference to your own organization’s marketing efforts. Our ultimate destination in this writing is a consideration of the importance of not only having the correct message, but also making sure it is delivered consistently and accurately.

The Problem: Lagging Sales
When an organization’s sales are lagging, there are several potential reasons: Is the company’s signature product valuable? Do they have a loyal customer base? Is the market in their industry strong? Has the marketing message been examined and is it appropriate? And lastly, is the sales team experienced, committed and talented?

We asked all of these questions, yet none of the answers identified the problem. As we dug further, however, it became obvious that the lagging sales problem was in fact related to the new message - but was not the message itself. The real problem was that the new message was not getting to the marketplace in a consistent or persuasive way . In other words, the message was not being sold well.

As is so often the case, this organization spent resources on marketing yet ignored the last critical piece of the equation. Like many organizations, they concentrated on the creation of a new message, but then failed to make sure everyone in the organization understood it, could deliver it and, most importantly, could sell it in a consistent and persuasive way.

In most customer-centric industries, the most important marketing does not come from an advertisement, a catchy tagline, PR program, or attractive and well-crafted marketing pieces. Rather the most important marketing comes from the employees who are in contact with the marketplace - the sales teams, sales managers and customer service representatives. Organizations need to support their sales teams with more than just marketing materials and a good message - they need give them context so that they can communicate effectively with clients.

After some discussion with some of this client’s sales managers and key salespeople, it quickly became obvious that several different versions of the message were being given to the marketplace. Furthermore, each member of the sales team was putting their own spin on the message, some were doing it better than others and not everyone had identified the best way to sell the product. This created a disparate message, customer confusion, and was a clear cause of the lagging sales.

Our Solution: The Latimer Group Process
In every client interaction, we follow The Latimer Group Process. We focus on the entire communication equation by breaking it down into its three essential parts: Developing the Message, Delivering the Message and Securing the Message. In this case, we instituted “shadow coaching” for every salesperson, which allowed us to watch each of them perform live, in real client interactions. We heard and saw, first-hand, how they communicated, sold, interacted with clients, and followed-up. In our time with each member of the sales team we looked for several things:

1. A demonstrated understanding by each salesperson of the product, its nuances, the new message, and that each individual could articulate all of the information easily and fluently;
   
   
2. A customer-centric approach focused on the benefits that mattered most to the customer, not necessarily the most important features of the product;
   
   
3. Knowledge and appreciation of customer concerns and the ability to address those concerns honestly and openly without ignoring them;
   
   
4. Consistency of the message throughout all members of the sales team; and
   
   
5. An examination of general sales and communication skills, so that each member of the sales team was “branding” him or herself in a professional and sophisticated way.

.The net result of the Shadow Coaching was a gap analysis for the organization as a whole and each member of the sales team. Actual performance was compared to a “gold standard.” The end result, and the ultimate value, was an action plan, which we created to close the gap.

Our primary goal was increased sales. The surest way ultimately to achieve that goal was by raising the ability of every member of the sales team to articulate the essence of the message in a clear, consistent and powerful way, and to sell more effectively.

The Outcome
The results for this client have been clear. Sales are up. The marketplace receives a more consistent message. And, the collective ability to sell the product has improved through better communication skills, stronger Q&A skills, better listening, better follow-up, and some specific tactical improvements to how the sales team interacts with its clients. Now, not only does the organization have the correct message, but it is being delivered more consistently and effectively.

The process of Shadow Coaching in this environment has several
benefits, including:

1. Individual interaction in a live environment, allowing for substantive feedback and specific, actionable coaching. This creates a benefit directly for each individual member of the sales team;
   
   
2. The ability to share with every member of the sales team what is working, what is not working and collectively create a sales blueprint, which offers a benefit to the entire sales team;
   
   
3. A more consistent message among all members of the sales team, and a higher level of sales and communication skills for everyone, which offers a benefit to the entire organization.

Shadow Coaching accelerates every step of the process: identification of the issues; creation of the gap analysis; and pursuit of the action plan for improvement.

This story highlights a concept that we routinely re-discover in our client work. Developing the correct message is only half the battle. Consistent delivery and the correct message go hand in hand. A poor message consistently delivered is no worse than a correct message delivered inconsistently. Good presentation, sales and communication skills are about the combination of message and delivery. Eye contact, a powerful voice and a likable personality are not enough to achieve sales success. It is the combination of the appropriate message delivered in the appropriate way that ultimately defines real success.

As you think about your organization, ask yourself this one single question: How confident am I that my VP of sales, my sales managers, or my sales teams fully understand our message and are delivering that message consistently to our customers and the marketplace?

If you don’t like your answer to this question, think about what you can do about it. And finally, consider Mr. Gertsner’s quotation at the beginning of this missive... expectation is not enough.

Dean M. Brenner President

In the Spotlight Ronald Reagan

© 2004 The Latimer Group. All Rights Reserved.
Dean M. Brenner - The Latimer Group: 203.265.4344.
Feedback or comments: dmbrenner@thelatimergroup.com.
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