Are you an exhausted rainmaker? Do you struggle to maintain the focus of your sales team? Do your prospects say "quality" and then make decisions based on price? Are you really tired of the bidding game? So begins The Contractor's CODE For Marketing and Sales, a book that promises to revolutionize small and mid-size business development, especially as it pertains to sales and marketing-the core of any business. The book is based on a proprietary program, also called CODE(TM)-Communication-Organization-Documentation-Evaluation(TM)-that was developed by Elizabeth Allen and first introduced to business clients in 2001. After assisting in the sales and marketing turnaround of numerous organizations, and watching the enthusiastic responses of countless executives and managers at seminars and presentations conducted throughout the United States, CODE is now available in book form. This book trains companies to think and act differently in how they manage the sales process: 1.Take the emphasis off of bids and price, improving profit and quality. 2.Develop a sustainable sales organization that is not dependent on just one person. 3.Effectively utilize junior level talent in the sales effort. 4.Develop effective relationships between advertising, marketing, and sales efforts. From its construction industry beginnings, CODE is now being adapted as a "best practice" by contractors and sub-contractors throughout industry. While the book is written directly for the construction industry audience, the book applies to consulting firms of virtually any type, such as accounting firms, multinational engineering companies, healthcare providers, technology distributors and a wide variety of entrepreneurs. The Contractor's CODE for Sales and Marketing will specifically address: -How to market your firm in the most cost-effective manner possible to build an effective and compelling brand image. This applies to start-up as well as established companies looking to reposition or reinvent themselves. -How to manage the four actionable sales phases: Lead Generation, Lead Qualification, The Sales Pitch and Post-Sales Activities. -How to organize your prospecting efforts so that you can "predictably fill the prospect pipeline" and end all guessing when it comes to assessing where someone is in the sales process or wondering "what the next step should be." -How to and where to find prospects when they don't easily identify themselves; how you can get a step ahead of everyone else so that you can identify and impact prospects before they even realize that they are prospects. -How to effectively position your company from the customer's perspective so that, from the first contact forward, you have a distinct advantage over the competition. -How to effectively coach CODE for each key role in the company, focusing on issues specific to the prospector, technology expert and closer. -How to qualify and categorize each lead, so that you don't invest valuable internal resources on leads that aren't going anywhere. -The importance of setting an agenda for each point of contact with a prospect, so that each contact is meaningful. -Methods to stay focused and motivated when you are in a very long sales process, one that can take anywhere from 18 to 24 months. -How to address clearly and with purpose the issues of price, proprietary solutions and competition so that you control and manage the expectations of the prospect through a series of disclosures that puts you in the driver's seat throughout your sales effort. -Use of communication techniques to take the emphasis away from price. Know the CODE, and win jobs with NO MORE BIDS!
About the Author: Elizabeth Allen is the Principal consultant of the sales consulting firm MarketSmartz, based in Kansas City. A self-employed entrepreneur from the age of 25, she has worked in every facet of strategic market planning, national brand management and executive sales management. Elizabeth is the creator and developer of CODE, a proprietary sales and marketing system that has transformed small- and mid-size companies nationwide. In development and test pilots for over ten years, CODE has transformed the sales process of dozens of companies across the United States. Her sales management systems are the subject of The Contractor's CODE for Marketing and Sales (2006) and Driving Demand: The CODE for Sales (2014). Frequently asked to speak to business groups, Elizabeth is a thought leader that delivers cutting edge insight and practical advice on how everyone throughout an organization can meaningfully participate and support the sales process. CODE relieves "Exhausted Rainmakers and Business Owners" from the endless task of having to drive business development. CODE creates a predictable customer pipeline that is not dependent upon the skills of any one individual. CODE delivers a sustainable exit strategy to business owners, while providing a system that will dramatically raise the performance and satisfaction of their organizational team. During the economic downturn of the past several years, Elizabeth has devoted much of her time and effort toward helping the many unemployed "Free Agents" transition to a new "Economy of One." From her observation that "the only difference between an entrepreneur and someone unemployed is that one has decided that he or she has something to sell," she developed a new CODE program to teach Free Agents how to "think like an entrepreneur," whether they become an entrepreneur or end up finding a new job. Elizabeth has taught and facilitated this course to a number of Free Agent groups. The program is documented in her recent book, The Economy of One: CODE for Free Agents (2011). Elizabeth served as a facilitator for The Kauffman Foundation's FastTrac program and as a mentor for the University of Kansas MBA Graduates Program. Her unique expertise and vast experience has been highlighted in InfoWorld, Entrepreneur Magazine, Concrete Monthly, and on a nationally broadcast PBS special. She has been featured in cover stories in the Johnson County (Kansas) Business Times and the Kansas City Small Business Monthly.