Posted: September 27, 2012 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement

In the early 50’s, a young fellow named Sydney Poitier came from Jamaica to New York City.  His goal was to be a great actor.  Over the next 20 years, he achieved that goal.  Getting there wasn’t a cinch.

As Mr. Poitier approached agents, directors, and producers, he was consistently met with scorn and ridicule.  He now claims that one of his key secrets of success came every time he got knocked down and humiliated:  When these things happened, he got tougher.

In his book, “The Happiness Advantage”, psychologist Shawn Achor talked about the habit of “Falling up”.  Like Sydney Poitier, this means that whenever we encounter setbacks and crises, we pick ourselves up and get back in the ring with even more gusto.  All high achievers have this quality.

In 1995, Met Life hired behavioral psychologist Martin Seligman to help them with their sales staff.  Reps were underperforming and the turnover was high and costly.  Dr. Seligman decided to make the key hiring criteria be the candidate’s strength and resilience in attitude.  As a result of this experiment, they discovered that the optimist outsold the pessimist by 40%!

When we are planning to succeed, we need the right mental programming.  Here are some questions we can ask ourselves when we hit these “bumps in the road”.

1. What happened?
2. What is my interpretation of what happened?  Is it positive?  If not, what are some positives I can learn from this?
3. Is this event part of a pattern, or is this an isolated event?
4. What is the problem (No Blame, and make sure you are not just giving a symptom)
5. What are some possible solutions?
6. What is the best solution?
7. How can I begin implementation?

These questions can lead us to a winning attitude and better ego strength.  We can do this, or we can be a victim.  In the words of the late Steven Covey, “Act or be acted upon”

Posted: June 18, 2012 | Categories: Sales

The price objection….welcome it!

A couple weeks ago, I was having a conversation with an entrepreneur business client.  She had checked around with her competition, and was considering lowering her prices to be more competitive.  We talked about her situation and took a “deeper dive” in to this dilemma.  After doing so, she came to the firm conclusion that lowering her price was not the solution to the problem.  Instead, she decided to focus on selling the added value she had to offer.

A Chevy is cheaper than a Cadillac, and they sell a lot more Chevy’s than Cadillac’s.    Cadillac has an added value that people are willing to pay for.  How do we sell added value?  Let’s break it down:

1. Determine exactly what the prospects want and why they want it.  (http://www.durhamcoach.com/blog/2012/06/06/selling-vs-telling-the-critical-factor/)
2. Know about how your product is unique and be able to communicate this distinction.  Break down your knowledge into facts, features, and how they relate to the needs expressed by the buyer.
3. Be able to create a word picture that can take the prospect forward.

To illustrate, let’s use an example:  Here is the situation:

You are at the point where you are looking to close the sale.  The prospect says they are going to shop around:

Me.:  “That makes sense.  In fact, I like to make sure I shop around myself when considering an important purchase.  As you do your shopping, here are some key features you can keep in mind as you are preparing.

1. This event will be an exclusive.  You people will enjoy personalized treatment
2. We have twice the average number of servers.  You mentioned how important that your guests were responded to promptly
3. Each server receives 6 months training in our special customer service program.  That means you can count on us serving your needs with excellence and professionalism.

(Word picture)

Cheryl, as I understand your situation, you want your wedding to be fun and memorable, and you would like your guests to reflect positively on the whole experience for many years to come. Is that correct?  Let’s imagine it is your wedding day.  Here you are walking in with your new husband.  As you enter….

From this point, we would project a picture that was clear, vivid, and unforgettable.  Here are the fundamentals:

1. Details
2. Present tense
3. Positive

One of my friends describes this part of the sales process as “play the movie”.  We all like good movies, and when a sales professional is able to put us in a nice picture, they touch off our positive emotions, and make us want to move forward.  This process creates added value, and can be very powerful.

Summarizing, the next time you are tempted to lower your price, make sure you have made time to take stock of your qualities.

Posted: June 6, 2012 | Categories: Sales

“There are two reasons people do things…the real one, and the one that sounds good”

–                          John Pierpont Morgan

 To be a top sales producer, we need to be good at learning what people want and whythey want it

 Recently, I was talking with a neighbor about yard work.  Bill, (not his real name) said that he could not understand why I put fertilizer on my 1 ½ acre lawn.  Counting the lawn care service and the $4 gallon gas that my mower uses, we probably spend well over $1000 per year, and that is just for the lawn.  As reflected in the J.P. Morgan quote above, I had two answers to his question.  First, the one that sounds good:  I respect my neighbors, and don’t want to grow weeds that will blow on their yard.  Doesn’t that sound nice?  OK, now for the real reason:  I like hitting golf balls in my back yard, and I love the feel of soft, cushioning grass as I walk along.  I imagine that I am playing on one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world.  Quirky, Huh?  Here’s another story…

A client of mine just spent nearly $2000 for hardwood mulch for his house.  He doesn’t like mulch, and he certainly doesn’t like spending $2000 for a bunch of old, ground up wood.  So what does he like?  As he puts it, “When I drive up to my house after coming home after work, I want to be proud of the way my house looks.  I want to feel good just looking at it”.  Is that feeling worth $2000 to him?  Yes.

Why is this important?  The whole sales process hinges on us finding out that emotionally driving factor that will be most dominant in a person wanting to buy our product or service.   When objections arise, we will always go back to what they said they wanted (like that feeling of driving up the driveway).  When we refer back to this dominant buying motive, we are in a much better position to sell.  If we haven’t uncovered this information, we run the risk of hearing that dreaded phrase, “Let me think about it”

So how do we find the dominant driver?  We ask for it.  What do we need to do before we ask?  Build trust so they are comfortable sharing their silly motive.

I leave you with this thought:  There were over one million drill bits sold last year.  Here is the funny part…there are very few drill bit collectors.  When people buy a bit, they have something they want it to do, and we need to make sure we uncover what that is.

Posted: March 27, 2012 | Categories: Management, Sales

We all know why gold and diamonds are so expensive: They are in high demand and the supply is limited.

The same rules apply to you and I regarding our product or service. If what we do and how we do it is exceptional, in demand, and rare, we can make more profit. This is why it is so important for us in business to find our “gold.” Here is a process that can help us do that:

1.  Think of all the problems we solve for our clients.
2.  Consider all the competencies we have to solve those problems.
3.  Make a list of these competencies
4.  Put the list in a chart form with four columns
5.  Label the columns: Me, Customer, Competency, and Competition.

Here is what the headings stand for:

Me = How important do I think the competency is?

Customer= How important do my customers think it is?

Competency: Of all the competencies, where am I most strong and competent?

Competition: How strong is my competition in this area?

To complete heading #2, you will need to survey a handful of your most important customers. Ask them to rate the competency on a scale of 1-10. After you have tabulated the information, look at the data to determine:

• Consider what both you and your customers think is most important
• Evaluate how it matches up with your greatest competency
• Research your competition’s website and see how strong they are in that area

In most cases, what you will come up with is an area where you are uniquely qualified. Once you have done this, you have now discovered your “gold.” This is your unique selling proposition, and also where your greatest profit margin should be. Clients will pay you well since they do not believe they can replicate what you do for them.

Posted: March 1, 2012 | Categories: Sales

Ask the most successful salesperson you know about how they manage their pipeline.  They will know what you are talking about and they will give you your money’s worth.

So why talk about pipeline management?  To be consistent in our production and meeting our goal, we need a repeatable process with predictable results.

To start with, let’s talk about software.  Fancy CRM’s (Customer Relationships Management) like ACT or web-based Salesforce.com are nice.  They do require an investment.  Conceivably, you could use a simple Excel sheet for tracking and pipeline management.

Now we begin our sales activity so that we can “feed the system”.  Before going any further, I am assuming you have your business plan and sales strategy in place.  (If not, refer to planning blogs written on 11/28-29 of 2011)

Our strategy typically includes activities such as prospecting, cold calling, networking, public speaking, attending luncheons and special events, golf outings, generating website leads, and social media contacts.

Sales activity leads to conversations.  Conversations lead to face-to-face appointments.  Face-to-face appointments yield a certain percentage of customers.  This is our closing ratio.

While it is nice to have high closing ratios, it is even more important to crisply, honestly, actively, and relentlessly manage our pipeline.

In the pipeline, you will have two categories:  Leaners and long shots.  A leaner has said, “I want to do it”, but has not signed off on it yet.  A long shot has shown interest, but needs time to think about it.  Here are the percentages you need to know:

Leaners                    50% chance of closing

Long shots               10% chance of closing

Now we can project:  If I have 10 leaners and 10 long shots on my Excel sheet, that means I can count on 6 new clients.  Now I can forecast my income and be confident I can achieve it.

So how can you tell when someone is managing their pipeline well?  There is no fluff, no deception, and every prospect in the pipeline belongs there.  The pipeline is also full.  And what happens when they close?  They are both happy and restless, because they now have a vacancy in their pipeline and they must create a sense of urgency to fill it up.  Summing it up, good pipeline management means:

1.  Building a strategy

2.  Sales activity

3.  Create “Leaners”

4.  Advance long shots

5.  Keep your pipeline clear of “dead wood”

6.  Renew sales activity each time you close