Award Winning Author Jeffrey A. Koser Releases Sales Tips to help you have a Happy New Year

Founder of Selling to Zebras, LLC, and the co-author of the award winning book "Selling to Zebras", releases valuable tips for sales organizations to be productive in the New Year. USA Book News Award Winning Author Jeff Koser says, "There is a new paradigm in sales. We can't do what we did before and expect a different result. Deciding what not to do is as important, 'PERHAPS MORE IMPORTANT' than deciding what to do. It's especially, important when times are tough for sales and sales managers to focus where they can close the most business with the least amount of resources."

Hartland, WI (PRWEB) December 1, 2008

According to Jack and Suzie Welch in "THE WELCHWAY" article Three Reasons Obama Won, published recently in Business Week, "You can't just beat your rivals by the old rules: to grow, you have to invent a new game and beat them at that, too."

As we end 2008 and look to 2009 what is the new game and how do we win?
USA Book News Award Winning Author Jeff Koser says, "There is a new paradigm in sales. We can't do what we did before and expect a different result. Deciding what not to do is as important, 'PERHAPS MORE IMPORTANT' than deciding what to do. It's especially, important when times are tough, for sales and sales managers to focus where they can close the most business with the least amount of resources."

Koser offers these tips to companies to help ensure sales organizations are productive in the New Year:

Figure out the profile of your perfect prospect--your "Zebra": These are tough economic times. Figuring out what not to do is more important than figuring out what do to. How do you do that? You establish a seven question criteria to help evaluate a prospect:
1. What types of companies have bought from you in the last sixty days? Where are the located? What is their size? What is their culture?
2. What business problems did you solve for them?
3.Who was the person in a position of Power and what was his/her title? To answer this question, answer--who made the promises that got the project approved?
4. What was the level of funding required?
5. What type of ROI did you provide?
6. What role did technology play in the decision?
7. What is the level of service that will be required to ensure success?

Learn to score a prospect: Before you engage resources spend just five minutes and score it.
1. Score the company against your perfect prospect profile as a 0, 1, 2, 3 or a perfect 4.
2. Did the prospect acknowledge having the business problems you solve, and are they committed to solving them? Score the business problem fit (0-4)
3. Have you met Power? Is this really the person that will make the promises to get the project approved? Score your contact person (0-4)
4. Score each of the remaining seven attributes of your Zebra which include, Funding, ROI, Technology, and Service with a (0-4)

Make the tough choice early: Now when you book a prospect appointment make sure you really want the appointment. Score your prospect and review it against the following; [A perfect Zebra score is 28 (7x4)]
1. A score of 0-10 says you should stay home and continue to prospect rather than wasting any time and resources.
2. A score of 11-19 says you should proceed with caution.
3. A score of 20 or above says you should pursue this prospect with everything you have.

When times are tough, the knee jerk reaction is to view all sales activity as good activity. Activity makes us feel good because we are busy. This is the most detrimental strategy any company can adopt or continue to deploy. The game has changed. The activity driven model today is expensive and can put you out-of-business.

Even in tough economic times there is opportunity. Learn to play by the new rules. Learn to invent a new game--one where you can book as much as 90% of the business you pursue faster, more easily and more profitably in the New Year.

THEN YOU WILL HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR

"Jeff and Chad Koser wrote a book [Selling to Zebras] that I consider one of the best sales books I have read in the last decade." - Marc Kramer, Wharton School of Management

About Jeff Koser and Selling to Zebras, LLC: Jeff is the founder of Selling to Zebras, LLC (http://www.SellingtoZebras.com), a sales tools and consulting firm established in 1999 that works with CEOs, top executives, and sales forces of both large and small organizations including: Kronos, Smart Choice MRI, StarCite. Jeff and his family live in Hartland, Wisconsin. Koser is the former Chief Operating Officers of Baan USA, Inc's Supply Chain Software Division. Koser is also a member of TEC 60.

Contact information: Jeff can be reached @ mobile phone (414) 659-1494, http://www.sellingtozebras.com, http://www.sellingtozebras.blogspot.com , Koserhtk@aol.com.

###