September 07, 2011 — Small-market 401(k) plan sponsors who have a clear understanding of the roles of their provider team members are more likely to be satisfied with their providers than those who do not understand the distinct responsibilities of each team member. —
The survey by Anova Consulting Group consisted of more than 2,000 small market plan sponsors; those with less than $10 million in plan assets. Thirty-four percent said that they did not clearly understand the roles of their service team members. Those who said they fully understand service team members’ roles and responsibilities reported an 83% overall level of satisfaction, compared with 63% overall satisfaction level reported by sponsors who were confused by service team roles.
Having well-defined roles and responsibilities also helps sponsor satisfaction levels by setting clear expectations. The two areas in the survey in which satisfaction ratings suffer most when sponsors don’t understand service team roles are “treats me as an important client” and “employee education materials and meetings.” Sponsors who clearly understand service team roles are 57% more likely to feel like they are treated as an important client and 55% more likely to be satisfied with their provider’s employee education offering.
An additional challenge in the small market is the prevalence of unbundled plans, in which the presence of TPAs can further complicate the service picture.
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Andrew Cloutier
Anova Consulting Group, LLC
(617) 731-1045
andrew@theanovagroup.com
BROOKLINE, MASS., June 23, 2015 – Today, Anova Consulting Group announced the addition of three new professionals: Louise Revers, Executive Interviewer; Laurie Grabner, Editor and Executive Interviewer; Mardan Flynn, Senior Research Analyst.
“Revenue growth in 2014 of 30% year over year has necessitated hiring,” said Rich Schroder, Founder and President of Anova. “We spent significant time and effort selecting qualified candidates and are enthusiastic about the results; the addition of three seasoned executives.
Louise brings more than 25 years of experience in marketing and business development to conduct in-depth interviews for Anova’s technology clients. She has extensive experience managing market research initiatives spanning diverse industries in start-up and growth environments. Previously, she was director of client services and drove client satisfaction for leading global brands at Communispace.
Prior to that, Louise was the senior manager of market intelligence and analysis at Genuity, one of the first Internet services providers. Louise also has extensive experience executing marketing communications and business development programs via her work as marketing director at International Data Corporation.
Mardan will utilize her decade-long experience in the financial services industry to work with Anova’s defined contribution clients, creating customized research programs, analyzing the findings, and providing actionable recommendations. Prior to joining Anova, Mardan was a Senior Research Relationship Manager at Cerulli Associates and a Senior Associate in the client management group at Cambridge Associates.
Laurie will conduct research projects for clients across Anova’s defined contribution and investment management practices. During her career, Laurie ran a successful consulting business providing marketing strategy and communications for a variety of retirement and financial services clients including Bank of America, Fidelity, John Hancock Funds, UPromise, SBLI, ING, and Putnam Investments. In addition, she worked in senior-level sales and marketing roles at Scudder Kemper Investments and Columbia Management Group.
Established in 2005, Anova Consulting Group is a leading market research and consulting firm focused on win / loss and client satisfaction analysis. By helping its clients understand why they win, lose, and retain business, Anova provides strategic perspectives driving better decision making, product development, sales effectiveness, client service, and continuous improvement. Richard Schroder, Founder and President of Anova, is author of the Win Loss Analysis book titled From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call (McGraw-Hill), which details how learning from post-sale debriefing helps close more future sales.
BROOKLINE, Mass., May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Anova Consulting Group, a leading market research firm in the financial services industry, announced today the launch of a new syndicated study entitled “Private Equity in DC Plans: Retirement Industry Perspectives”.
As private equity firms seek ways to tap into the individual investor retirement plan market and plan sponsors weigh various options to increase retirement readiness among their participant bases, Anova proposes to capture the perceptions and concerns of key stakeholders regarding the potential introduction of private equity investment options onto DC platforms.
“Private equity funds and defined contribution plans have not historically shared much common ground, so it will be interesting to see how receptive plan sponsors, advisors, and plan providers are to the concept,” said Richard Schroder, president of Anova Consulting Group. “There are certainly some operational as well as cultural challenges facing private equity firms who wish to sell their investments in retirement plans, but there may also be opportunities, especially given the growth of target date funds and automated plan features. This study will help to flesh out challenges and opportunities and create a roadmap with ideas on how the trend might play out.”
Likely subscribers to the study include private equity firms, retirement plan providers, and retirement plan consultants / advisors. This study will enable subscribers to:
— Assess DC market awareness of / potential demand for private equity
investing
— Identify top areas of concern (and potential solutions) regarding key
operational, technical, regulatory, and fiduciary issues
— Investigate feasibility of various asset class categories and investment
vehicles
Pre-subscribers who enroll by June 14(th) will be invited to offer input into the topics covered and research questionnaire. For the full study prospectus, see www.AnovaConsulting.com.
Private equity players are targeting the 401(k) industry. Will industry insiders welcome them with open arms, turn their noses up, or something in between?
Market research shop Anova Consulting Group is trying to answer that question. They just launched a syndicated study entitled Private Equity in DC Plans: Retirement Industry Perspectives.
The firm intends to “capture the perceptions and concerns of key stakeholders regarding the potential introduction of private equity investment options onto DC platforms,” as private equity firms look for ways to tap into the individual investor retirement plan market and plan sponsors weigh various options to increase retirement readiness among their participant bases.
“Private equity funds and defined contribution plans have not historically shared much common ground, so it will be interesting to see how receptive plan sponsors, advisors, and plan providers are to the concept,” stated Richard Schroder, president of Anova. “There are certainly some operational as well as cultural challenges facing private equity firms who wish to sell their investments in retirement plans, but there may also be opportunities, especially given the growth of target date funds and automated plan features. This study will help to flesh out challenges and opportunities and create a roadmap with ideas on how the trend might play out.”
Likely subscribers to the study include private equity firms, retirement plan providers, and retirement plan consultants / advisors. Pre-subscribers who enroll by June 14th will be invited to offer input into the topics covered and research questionnaire.
by Sarah Simoneaux, CPC
DST Retirement Solutions offers a broad array of retirement plan servicing options for financial organizations distributing retirement investment products and serving their customers’ retirement needs. For almost two decades, DST Retirement Solutions clients—mutual funds, banks, insurance companies and third party administrators—have benefited from the firm’s experience, innovation and commitment to continually invest in technology and deliver excellence in outsourcing services.
DST Retirement Solutions’ commitment to excellence prompted a training initiative and relationship with ASPPA that began in 2008, with the formal adoption of ASPPA’s Retirement Plan Fundamentals (RPF) program in September of 2008. When asked about the reasons behind the training initiative, Jane Brennan, division vice president and COO, DST Retirement Solutions, explained, “Regardless of economic climate, we are committed to investing in the development of our associates and providing superior service on behalf of our clients. We wanted to raise the bar and provide even more knowledgeable, timely, flexible and responsive service to our clients.” After researching several alternatives, DST Retirement Solutions ultimately chose ASPPA’s RPF program, and Jane highlighted the main reasons for the choice. “We liked that ASPPA offers an online, self-study program in addition to an exam, which allows us to benchmark our success. We also believe that ASPPA’s Retirement Plan Fundamentals Certificate program is a solid, reputable certificate program that carries a lot of weight in our industry.”
During 2008 and 2009, DST Retirement Solutions put approximately 120 employees through the RPF program. Upon successful completion of the RPF-1 and RPF-2 exams, these employees were awarded the ASPPA Retirement Plan Fundamentals Certificate. For 2010, DST Retirement Solutions has targeted a group of 25 additional employees to complete the RPF program, primarily consisting of new employees who have not yet gone through the training. This year, the firm will also utilize ASPPA’s online RPF web courses (produced by Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne) in a classroom setting to assist with training.
A Successful Phased Approach
DST Retirement Solutions approached the training initiative in phases, first targeting “client-facing” employees and then extending the initiative to all remaining employees “who touch a plan.” Phase 1 training included approximately 75 DST Retirement Solutions associates. These associates held retirement plan account manager (RPAM) positions. The RPAMs interact directly with plan sponsors, TPAs and advisors, and they manage the plan sponsor relationships day-to-day. Phase 1 also included the DST Retirement Solutions compliance team. These employees are responsible for nondiscrimination testing, document design and 5500 reporting. The first group started in September 2008 and completed the training and exams by early December 2008 (approximately three months).
Phase 2 was comprised of 45 associates, including new associates fulfilling either of the above-described roles (RPAMs or compliance staff), as well as plan conversion specialists and all client relationship representatives. This second group began preparing in April 2009 and completed the RPF-1 and RPF-2 courses and exams by July 2009.
The Learning Experience
To maximize effectiveness of the training initiative, DST Retirement Solutions utilized ASPPA’s Retirement Plan Fundamentals self-study program materials (online study materials, RPF study guides and practice exams) and supplemented with custom classroom training that the firm developed internally. They held working lunch sessions where topics from chapters of the ASPPA RPF study guides were reviewed and explored in detail. DST Retirement Solutions developed an assessment tool to determine where associates might need additional education to prepare for the exam. They analyzed the results of these assessments by person and by group, and identified key areas where associates needed additional study for the exam.
Editor’s Note: In 2009, ASPPA made available automated pre-assessments to assist firms with this type of individual assessment and candidate feedback prior to taking the exams.
In addition to the firm’s organized efforts, some associates formed additional study groups independently, meeting weekly to discuss what they’d read in the online materials. The overall initiative proved to be a very motivating experience for the firm’s employees.
The Catalyst for the DST Retirement
Solutions Training Initiative
The firm’s commitment to excellence was the catalyst. DST Retirement Solutions recognizes how critical the RPAM role is. As Jane points out, “We know that having a strategic relationship with the plan manager is a top requirement of plan sponsors and correlates highly with satisfaction. We also know that a lot of our larger institutional clients participate with the Anova Consulting Group in conducting surveys that gauge plan sponsors’ relationships with plan managers.”
DST Retirement Solutions’ internal learning and development organization enhanced the internal training curriculum for new associates, but the firm wanted to provide added advanced training for the RPAMs and compliance teams. After careful consideration of several different organizations for this advanced training expertise, the decision was made to utilize ASPPA’s education programs.
DST Retirement Solutions now requires that all RPAMs and compliance associates attain the ASPPA Retirement Plan Fundamentals Certificate within their first year on the job.
Positioned for the Future
When asked if the training initiative has yielded positive benefits, Jane responds enthusiastically. “Our RPAMs are now positioned to play a much more proactive, consultative role with the plan sponsors with whom they interface. We have implemented several internal changes with regard to the RPAM role, and certainly training and education played a big part in these efforts.” Jane also points out that DST Retirement Solutions has seen the Anova survey scores go up significantly, as well as the scores in the annual customer surveys with their institutional clients.
“The ASPPA training we undertook represents one of the most far-reaching and strategic training and education that we’ve done,” says Jane. “Although it was a big endeavor, our associates were eager to get going on this and have the ASPPA certification under their belts. They thanked us for that opportunity—for our willingness to invest in their future. Three members of our management team are already affiliated or credentialed ASPPA members.”
DST Retirement Solutions is now looking into longer-term involvement with the ASPPA credentialing programs, including the Qualified Plan Financial Consultant (QPFC), the Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) and the Qualified Plan Administrator (QPA) credentialing programs, in order to offer employees an enhanced career path and continued learning.
Sarah L. Simoneaux, CPC, is president of Simoneaux Consulting Services, Inc., located in Mandeville, LA, a firm offering consulting services to for-profit companies providing retirement services and to non-profit organizations. Sarah also provides consulting through Simoneaux & Stroud Consulting Services, specializing in business planning, business consulting, professional development, industry research and customized skill building workshops. She has worked in the employee benefits industry since 1981. Sarah was formerly vice president of Actuarial Systems Corporation (ASC). Prior to her position at ASC, she was a partner in JWT Associates, a qualified plan consulting firm in Los Angeles, CA. Sarah has volunteered her services in various capacities to assist ASPPA, and she served as the 2005-2006 ASPPA President. She currently works with the ASPPA Education and Examination Committee and she authored a book for the Qualified Plan Financial Consultant credentialing program. Sarah earned her Certified Pension Consultant (CPC) credential from ASPPA in 1988.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Andrew Cloutier
Anova Consulting Group, LLC
(617) 731-1045
andrew@anovaconsulting.com
BROOKLINE, MASS., April 24, 2012 – Anova Consulting Group, a leading provider of customized market research, sales training and consulting services to defined contribution, investment management and human capital management companies, announced today a new participant-focused program for retirement providers and plan sponsors.
The Participant Perspective Satisfaction Tool enables individual plan sponsors to survey their participants (and non-participants) and interpret satisfaction levels on an absolute and relative basis. By gathering constructive feedback from employees, sponsors will be able to better understand their participants’ needs, increase plan participation, and gain insights as to how their participant satisfaction levels compare to those of similar firms.
“For years, recordkeepers have conducted participant satisfaction research, but plan sponsors typically have limited access to their own participant satisfaction information.” said Richard Schroder, president of Anova Consulting Group. “Now, Anova has created a web application that allows plan sponsors to collect participant satisfaction information through an independent third party in a simple, “plug and play” process that generates an online survey for distribution to participants.”
A personalized online dashboard displaying real-time results is created for each participating plan sponsor. Sponsored by retirement providers as a client loyalty program, plan sponsors will gain access to Anova Consulting Group’s participant research capabilities at no cost to them.
Key benefits to participating plan sponsors include the ability to identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps within the sponsor’s employee benefit programs, as well as the ability to benchmark participant satisfaction ratings against other Perspective users and segment results by participant demographic information.
Schroder added that “Anova is currently in discussions with a number of recordkeepers and DCIO players who are considering offering the Perspective program to key plan sponsor clients and retirement plan advisors.”
Established in 2005, Anova Consulting Group is a leading market research and consulting firm focused on Win / Loss analysis and client satisfaction analysis. By helping its clients understand why they win, lose and retain business, Anova provides strategic perspectives to its clients, driving better decision-making, product development, sales effectiveness, client service, and continuous improvement. Last year, Richard Schroder, president of Anova, released a Win Loss Analysis book titled, From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call (McGraw-Hill, 2011), which details how learning from post-sale Win / Loss debriefing helps close more sales.
Posted by Ellen Naylor on March 31, 2011 at 9:14am in Sales and Marketing Intelligence
Back to Sales and Marketing Intelligence Discussions
From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call focuses on improving Sales’ post-decision debrief process with prospects, referred to as Win / Loss analysis in the competitive intelligence world. I like how the author, Richard Schroder, adds ‘post-decision debrief’ as the 7th element of the sales process. He insists Sales asks customers for their permission to conduct a post-sales interview during the presentation of your company’s solution rather than waiting until after the buying decision. A professional way to approach your prospect is: “We promote continuous improvement, and whether we win your business or lose it to a competitor, we value your feedback.”
Apparently only 18% of US companies have a formal Win / Loss program. Thus, in most new business situations, sales people don’t have a complete and accurate understanding of why they won or lost sales. If armed with such data, Sales can make behavioral changes to improve close rates by 15%.
According to Anova Consulting Group’s research, the sales process is often a top driver of the purchase decision, whether the business is won or lost.
Key reasons for losses from the sales process include:
**Lack of a customized presentation
**The salesperson doesn’t accurately uncover and understand the prospect’s unique needs, including decision making criteria
**The salesperson and / or team does not thoroughly prepare for prospect meetings and the presentation
Richard believes that sales people should not conduct these interviews since they often take the loss too personally and might try to re-sell the customer on their solution, be aggressive, defensive or dejected, which causes the customer to clam up or just to tell part of the story, the part that does not involve Sales. Prospects can also be uncomfortable talking with the salesperson whose solution they just rejected.
Yet, Richard gives great suggestions to help Sales conduct interviews:
**Do not attempt to gather feedback during the same call when you learn the sales outcome.
**Schedule a phone call or in-person visit with the decision-maker a couple of weeks after the sales decision.
**Take time to prepare the questions you want answered and seek input from your sales organization.
**This debrief questionnaire should include questions around the customer’s decision-making criteria; qualitative questions around your firm’s strengths and weaknesses; benchmarking against competitors; and the sales process (more detail to develop a Win / Loss questionnaire).
**This preparation will get you grounded, and will help you neutralize your emotions around the win or loss and let you focus on how and what you can learn.
**At the end of the interview, ask your customer if you missed anything. In my experience, this is when the floodgates open.
The book is chock full of ways to sell better:
**Build rapport. Learn as much about your prospect(s) as you can through the Internet, LinkedIn, Google, Twitter and industry associations.
**Don’t just plan your presentation: prepare the initial discussion you will have with each prospect. Ask some open ended questions to engage them.
**Develop a second approach to build rapport in case the first approach does not work.
**When in doubt, de-sell. For example, “Perhaps my service does not quite fit your needs.”
**Be consultative: if your product or service is not what the customer is looking for, refer them to someone who can help them.
**Remember people want to buy from experts, not salespeople. Research Research Research!
Appendix B tells Sales Managers how to implement a Win / Loss program. It is practical and well thought-out. Two factors stand out from my experience with developing such programs.
1. Does the program have executive level sponsorship and comprehensive buy-in from critical areas of your company?
2. Will the program be well integrated with existing processes already developed at your company?
I have learned the hard way that buy-in is essential at all levels. Some programs never get off the ground due to this lack of communication, leadership and integration.
My only criticism is Richard’s strong bias towards using a third party to conduct the Win / Loss analysis. I agree a third party brings less bias to this process, and can offer customers anonymity when reporting back to your company. However, I experienced good results conducting analysis for my company prior to consulting. There are some advantages that internal sources have: they know your companys products and services better than any third party since this is their full time job. Thus they can probe more deeply in these areas than can a consultant. They also know your company’s culture. Sometimes consulting firms recommend change that won’t work with your companys culture, even though it’s a great idea.
I recommend this book for those in marketing and sales who want to implement a Win / Loss program. I particularly recommend this book for salespeople who want to be BETTER. It clearly defines the value proposition for conducting analysis, especially for Sales. Do not be left out!
Recognized thought leader in Win / Loss analysis and sales training, and President of Anova Consulting Group, a leading market research, sales training and consulting firm, Richard M. Schroder, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his opportunity creating and game changing book From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best.
Richard M. Schroder describes how to develop and utilize an effective debriefing process to provide detailed analysis about why sales were really closed or lost.
Thanks to Richard M. Schroder for his time, and for his very comprehensive and thoughtful responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.
What was the background to writing this book From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best?
Richard M. Schroder: My company has been performing institutional Win Loss Analysis programs for large companies for over 13 years. Typically we are hired by a head of sales to conduct independent in-depth phone interviews with prospects after buying decisions have been made on behalf of an entire sales team. However, only 18 percent of companies currently have a formal Win Loss program in place for their sales teams, with an independent third party conducting in-depth interviews with prospects. This means there are over 20 million salespeople who have no access to an independent post-decision review on their behalf.
This book was written to fill that gap and bring our institutional coaching, expertise and knowledge to the everyday salesperson or small business owner. It shows individual salespeople how to better conduct post-decision debriefs on their own so they can improve their sales effectiveness and win more business.
What is the difference between a good sales call and a great one?
Richard M. Schroder: Our Win / Loss analysis research shows that there are five key themes that prospects typically express when speaking about a winning sales effort vs. a loss:
1) Consultative: The salesperson did research, asked the right questions, listened and then was consultative in their pitch and focused on the prospects’ unique needs.
2) Differentiation: The salesperson was distinctive / stood out in some way by clearly articulating how they were different from the competition.
3) Treated the prospect as important: The salesperson showed enthusiasm and made it clear that they wanted the business.
4) Rapport: The salesperson worked to build chemistry with the prospect and found common ground in a personal way.
5) Cohesiveness (in team selling situations): The most important word a prospect can say about a sales team is that they were cohesive (as opposed to coming across as disjointed or unprepared).
Why do so many salespeople lose the sale that seemed so near to it being closed?
Richard M. Schroder: One of the biggest things we have learned in all our research is that the main reason salespeople lose is because they are not actually selling to the decision maker. If a salesperson loses a deal and they never met with the actual decision maker then that alone is the reason they lost.
Most salespeople just look at a lost sale as gone, and then move on to the next prospect. Why do you consider this the wrong approach?
Richard M. Schroder: I’ve always believed that you learn more from your failures than from your successes. The best way to improve your sales effectiveness is to learn why you win and lose, so that you can reinforce your successful behaviors and rectify the selling deficiencies that are holding you back. It is only after you obtain accurate and candid feedback on your sales performance that you can institute meaningful change. By implementing a process for conducting better debrief calls, you will unlock a vast source of prospect information that will allow for continuous sales improvement and ultimately increase your close rate for years to come.
You share seven steps for a successful post-decision debrief process. What are those seven steps?
Richard M. Schroder: There is a lot to be learned from losing a deal, yet most salespeople do not know how to gather accurate and meaningful information from prospects to learn from their losses. Salespeople often ask prospects why they lost a deal, but they typically don’t get a straight answer. In fact, according to proprietary sales research data, prospects tell salespeople the complete truth about why they lost less than half the time. In fact, research has shown that salespeople learn the complete and accurate truth about 40% of the time. In other words, in 60% of new business situations, salespeople do not have a complete and accurate understanding of why they lost. This situation begs the question: If salespeople don’t understand why they lose, how are they expected to improve their performance and ultimately win more business?
Below are seven ways for salespeople to improve their post-sales etiquette and get more candid feedback from prospects post-decision:
1) Give early notification that you will conduct a debrief (regardless of the outcome of the sale): In order to make the prospect comfortable and illicit honest and, more importantly, actionable feedback, you should let the prospect know early in the sales process that regardless of the outcome, you will be conducting a post-decision debrief call at the end of the process.
2) Schedule a separate debrief call: Do not debrief on the same call as when you hear about a loss. When you hear about a loss, prospects have one goal in mind: to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. Therefore, getting good feedback is always challenging. Instead, schedule a separate debrief call after you have accepted the loss and let the prospect know that you will not try to change their decision.
3) Use a Win / Loss debrief guide: Using a questionnaire maximizes feedback and keeps the conversation focused. As a result, research has shown that salespeople who use a debrief questionnaire have a 15% higher close rate than those who do not. Sample debrief guides can be downloaded at Anova Consulting Debrief Guide.
4) Take responsibility: Make sure that you really want candid feedback; prospects will be able to tell if you don’t. Don’t get defensive or angry, don’t debate with the prospect and don’t try to resell the prospect.
5) Take notes: Tell the prospect that you’ll be taking notes. This will make them feel important and make them feel compelled to talk more. Your average debrief should last about 10-15 minutes.
6) Probe for specifics: Ask “How do you mean?” or “Say more.” Other great ways of getting candid feedback include asking, “How can I improve on this”, “How can I make it better?” or “Can I get your advice?”
7) Consider having someone else conduct your debriefs: Once you have a debrief guide, you could have someone else within your company conduct the debrief (such as an inside wholesaler or cold caller). You could also find someone outside of your company to do this work for you. If you are running a sales team, consider hiring an outside third party to conduct Win Loss Analysis interviews on behalf of your entire sales team.
There are a number of steps in the program that differ from the usual concept of debriefing prospects. What are those differences and why are they important?
Richard M. Schroder: The big thing I tell salespeople is not to debrief on the same call where the prospect tells you that you have lost the deal. This is a major mistake and in most cases, you will not get any meaningful feedback from prospects during this discussion. Why are prospects not forthcoming when they call to tell you that you lost the business? One reason for this is that when a prospect calls to tell you that you lost the deal, his primary concern is to tell you the decision and get you off the phone as quickly as possible. No one likes to give someone bad news; therefore, prospects feel uncomfortable during these conversations and are looking to get the call over with as quickly as possible.
Another problem with trying to conduct a debrief interview at this time is that as the salesperson, you will typically feel rejected, defeated, deflated and defensive. That’s a lot of emotions to handle all at once, and no one enjoys going through rejection. Whatever emotions you have at this point will prohibit your ability to successfully debrief a prospect. You need time to reflect and allow yourself to gain composure after defeat. It is virtually impossible for you to have all the right questions to ask at this particular moment and to ask them in the right frame of mind.
Here is an example of how to ask for a debrief interview:
“Mr. Prospect, I understand your decision and I respect it. I’m disappointed, because I really wanted to work with you and your company but I’m not going to try to change your mind. I wish you all the best in the future. If you recall, I had mentioned to you that my company conducts debriefs at the end of every sales cycle and you agreed to debrief with me. We do this so that we can continually improve our sales process and product and service offering. Can we set up a time in the next week or so to speak for 15 minutes? It would really be helpful to me. Do you have your calendar handy?”
There are many key points to be aware of in the above example. For one, it is important to let the prospect know that you are not going to try to change his mind. By letting the prospect know that you have accepted the loss and that you will not try to change his decision, you are putting the prospect at ease and as a result, he will be more willing to talk to you. Also, you have let them achieve their main objective for the call and they will be calmed by this. Make sure to let them know that you don’t like to lose but that you do like to learn as much as possible from every loss.
How can a sales representative and a company create a tool to debrief prospects more effectively in the future?
Richard M. Schroder: As I mentioned, sample debrief guides can be downloaded at Anova Consulting Debrief Guide. Any salesperson or sales team can start with these tools and customize them for their company’s products and services and their own sales process. If a company wants to take it to the next level, they should consider implementing a formal Win Loss Analysis Program whereby an independent third party conducts the interviews on behalf of the sales team.
You describe a Win Loss Analysis program. What is that program and why should sales managers consider adding it to their sales process?
Richard M. Schroder: One proven way to improve a sales team’s close rate is to implement what is popularly known as a Win Loss Analysis program, whereby an independent third party interviews prospects after buying decisions have been made. Through this type of process sales teams can learn the true, candid reasons why they win and lose.
Below are a few reasons why every sales manager should consider implementing a formal, independent program for their sales team:
1) A third party interviewer can get the complete truth from prospects during post decision debriefs. Prospects are more candid when giving feedback and criticism to an independent third party because they don’t have to worry about hurting the salesperson’s feelings or fearing confrontation, criticism or reselling efforts from sales reps (who often become defensive while receiving feedback). Given the option to remain anonymous, a prospect can feel at ease with a third party interviewer inviting the prospect to share any issues he or she might have had with the salesperson, sales process or a company’s products or services.
2) Tailoring sales training with actual Win / Loss data and feedback from prospects is a huge opportunity for sales teams to improve their selling efforts. Every year, sales managers spend significant time and money training their salespeople. However, most companies do little to verify that salespeople are actually implementing the right tactics in their interactions with prospects. A Win Loss Analysis program ensures that sales training focuses on the most critical and actionable sales performance issues
3) Third party feedback can become a comprehensive senior management tool. A Win Loss program delivers a reliable, objective and consistent tool that can be used by senior management to improve its products and services, as well as provide competitive intelligence. This information transcends the sales process and can become a critical conduit for strategic decisions.
The most important long-term goal and benefit of a Win Loss Analysis program is to increase a company’s new business win rate. This is achieved through an improved understanding of how a company’s sales effectiveness, products and services compare with the competition.
There is significant opportunity for many sales managers to improve their sales teams’ close rates by better understanding prospect perceptions. Over time, analysis can allow a sales team to charge ahead of its competition by continually keeping a pulse on industry trends, the competition, and needed enhancements to the sales process.
What is the first step that an organization should take toward having more great sales calls?
Richard M. Schroder: The first step to be taken is to fully understand why your sales team is winning and losing. This is the basis for winning more business.
What is next for Richard M. Schroder?
Richard M. Schroder: Writing a book while trying to grow a business is like trying to fix a flat tire while your car is still moving! I plan to regroup now and speak as much as possible on the subject to train salespeople on this overlooked final aspect of the sales process. I also plan to spend more time with my family since I spent many Sundays writing over the last year.
“Understanding why a deal is won or lost is critical, yet most salespeople have little (if any) understanding of the true reasons for winning and losing” writes recognized thought leader in Win / Loss analysis and sales training, and President of Anova Consulting Group, Richard M. Schroder in his opportunity creating and game changing book From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best. The author describes how to develop and utilize an effective debriefing process to provide detailed analysis about why sales were really closed or lost.
Richard M. Schroder recognizes that all too often salespeople leave a prospect not ever knowing why the sale was never completed. Most sales representatives, and even their sales managers, simply move on to the next prospect, seeking the next sale. What is not understood by the sales team is that the same mistakes can be repeated over and over again, resulting in even more lost closing opportunities. Richard Schroder provides a comprehensive system for re-examining the lost sale to analyze what went right, and also to determine what also went wrong. This debriefing process provides the sales person with deeper insights into their own sales strategy, helping them to continue using the techniques that worked well. At the same time, and perhaps even more importantly, the debriefing concept will uncover mistakes that can be corrected and avoided in future sales presentations.
Richard M. Schroder understands that all sales representatives possess strengths and weaknesses that vary from person to person. Without a thorough assessment of these strengths and weaknesses, the salesperson will never move past the status quo position of the potential customer. For Richard Schroder, the status quo is as much of a competitor for sales representatives as the products and services offered by another company. Richard Schroder presents a logical step by step procedure, for learning the real reasons, that goes far beyond the features and benefits of the product or service. The author seeks to uncover the much more important relationship between the buyer and the seller. For the authoor, a good salesperson solves an important problem for the customer through open and honest discussion. The book focuses on the critical relationship between the salesperson and the customer, and not on the technical mechanics of the sales process.
For me, the power of the book is how Richard Schroder describes the crucial factor of open and honest communication between the seller and the buyer. Unlike many other sales books that teach tactics and techniques, the author helps the sales person build a positive and open sales conversation. Should the sale fall through without completion, Richard Schroder provides a complete debriefing process to uncover the real reasons for the failed sale. Since this debriefing concept is important, the process must be conducted using the best practices and proper etiquette. The book contains valuable chapters on how to debrief the client honestly and with mutual respect. Through the procedure outlined by Richard Schroder, honest feedback can be obtained, and mistakes can be avoided in the future.
I highly recommend the unique and insightful book From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best by Richard M. Schroder, to anyone involved in sales from entrepreneurs, to sales representatives, to sales managers who are serious about understanding what really went right and wrong in a sales conversation. This book enters into the seldom discussed, but extremely important, area of the post-sales conversation debriefing process.
Read the sales building and very practical book From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best by Richard M. Schroder, and discover the best practices for utilizing the sales debriefing concept. The book contains all of the tools and ideas necessary to design, develop, and utilize the very valuable debriefing procedure. The end result will be more closed sales, a much more effective sales team, and many more satisfied customers.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Andrew Cloutier
Anova Consulting Group, LLC
(617) 731-1045
andrew@anovaconsulting.com
BROOKLINE, MASS., February 12, 2013 – Win loss survey data from Anova Consulting Group shows that the proportion of plan sponsors remaining with the incumbent after conducting full 401(k) provider searches has continued to grow for the fifth consecutive year. Anova is a leading provider of Win / Loss and client satisfaction analysis in the financial services industry.
For the sales situations Anova researched in 2012, 31% of mid-large market finals with between $20MM and $500MM in plan assets resulted in the plan sponsor remaining with the incumbent recordkeeper, up from 28% in 2011 and 18% five years ago. This figure does not include non-competitive re-bid situations, which are an increasingly commonplace alternative to a full search / RFP process for plan sponsors who are not necessarily dissatisfied with their provider but conduct periodic due diligence reviews for fiduciary reasons. Anova has conducted over 1200 win, loss, and departed client interviews with mid-large 401(k) plan sponsors since 2007.
“Over the last five years, the percentage of plans conducting full-blown searches and electing to remain with their current providers has increased roughly 10% each year. If this trend continues, it will mean that in five more years, 50% of the plans conducting finals searches will remain with the incumbent,” said Richard Schroder, president of Anova Consulting Group. “While it speaks highly of industry-wide client service that so many sponsors are content to stay with their existing providers, this trend should not be discounted by sales and product development organizations.”
As search activity becomes increasingly competitive and 401(k) products and services become more commoditized in the mid-large market, retirement plan providers are striving to differentiate themselves and provide prospects with compelling reasons to leave their incumbents. A comparable product offering with comparable fees (or even a minor fee reduction) are infrequently sufficient to entice a plan sponsor to undergo the effort and uncertainty of a conversion to a new provider.
According to Schroder, “The sales teams that are beating the odds are doing a better job of creating immediate value and differentiating their firms’ offerings during the sales process. With increasingly informed buyers and the ever-growing involvement of sophisticated search consultants and retirement plan advisors, providers must clearly articulate their value propositions and offer a highly consultative sales process customized to a sponsor’s specific needs.”
Established in 2005, Anova Consulting Group is a leading market research and consulting firm focused on Win / Loss analysis and client satisfaction analysis. By helping its clients understand why they win, lose and retain business, Anova provides strategic perspectives to its clients, driving better decision-making, product development, sales effectiveness, client service, and continuous improvement. Richard Schroder, president of Anova, is author of the Win Loss Analysis book titled From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call (McGraw-Hill), which details how learning from post-sale debriefing helps close more sales.
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