Before looking outwards at our prospects and customers we need to look at ourselves, because each of us is a unique human being with our own desires, challenges and thoughts: To understand how we can communicate and therefore sell more effectively, we need to understand the human communication process.

Every minute our unconscious mind absorbs over two million pieces of information through our senses. We are bombarded with sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches. Yet according to Professor George Miller from Harvard University, we can only process around seven chunks of information consciously at any given moment. That’s an awful lot of information that our conscious mind chooses to ignore or to be more accurate, delete! This means that every individual will process information based on what they a focusing on at that time.

The information that enters our unconscious mind goes through three filters to reach our conscious mind. We delete most of it because there is no way that our conscious mind could cope with what is held in the unconscious mind. We distort the information based on our current situation. For example, a child may interpret the ordinary sounds of a central heating system very differently if they are left alone in the house. This is why, sometimes people can completely misinterpret what we are saying to them, they are distorting the information because they are focusing on a different meaning to the one we wanted to convey.

We also generalize information. For example; once we have learned what a chair looks like we can instantly identify other ‘chairs’ even though we haven’t seen every type of chair. We can generalize the way most doors are opened, how most cars are driven and even how to identify when a person is either male or female.

After the information has been filtered into our conscious mind, there are only four things we can do with it inside our heads…we make pictures, sounds, we talk to ourselves or we have feelings. The combination of these things creates an emotion that has an effect on our physiology. For example; if we feel embarrassed we might blush, if we feel angry we may tighten up our muscles. Every thought we have affects our body and the way we move our body affects our thinking. Our mind and body are totally interconnected.

If you observe someone suffering from depression, they are often round shouldered, they look down a lot and many of them will be using a lot of negative self-talk, “why does this always happen to me?” “I’m useless, what’s the point?”

Contrast this to a person who feels really confident; they stand upright, their shoulders are back and they use eye contact. Because every thought we have affects our body, this means that our emotional state also affects our behaviour, which consequently affects and influences the results we get.

Therefore, if we want to change aspects of our lives, including the way our prospects and customers react to us, first we have to change our own thinking – attitude is 80% of the success factor in frontline professional selling.

“If you become a testimonial-based seller (which I believe to be the most powerful form of sales in the world), then you can get testimonials for every element, or every step of your sales cycle.” Jeffrey Gitomer

Customers like to feel reassured that the purchase they are about to make will do everything that the sales person has told them it will do. Why? Because there is a principle based around social proof that effectively confirms, “If other customers like this, it must be good”. The power of using testimonials during different stages of the sales process increases sales when ‘real’ customers are seen or heard testifying as to how beneficial a product/service has been for them. They increase your credibility because they are third-party endorsements rather than words out of your own mouth.

The goal of a customer is to predict the future about a product/service and by offering real stories from other real customers can turn a picture of your proposition into a tangible experience.

When using testimonials there are a number of elements that can maximize their effectiveness:
• The more specific a testimonial is the more power it has for the customer. For example; “Great company, great service” lacks meaning because it is vague and doesn’t tell the customer anything.

Consider the impact when a testimonial becomes more specific: “I was really impressed with this company’s speed of service. They pulled out all the stops so that I had product sitting in my warehouse within 24 hours.”

• Every testimonial should include the customer’s name, their title and their organisation’s name (if relevant), and ideally a thumbnail size photograph of that person. This helps to convey the authenticity of the testimonial and builds credibility.

• Dividing testimonials into different aspects of the sales process can be really useful. When used in context they create more impact. For example; if a sales person is struggling to get an appointment with a prospect, a relevant testimonial could help persuade that prospect to agree to a meeting: “It took me two years before I agreed to meet this company. Having worked with them almost a year, I wish I’d seen them earlier.”

• Within the context of the sales cycle, testimonials can be used at many stages, particularly:
- Initial letters/emails to request a meeting
- Sales presentations to reinforce key points
- Objection handling and negotiations
- Post – meeting follow up to provide reassurance
- Managing ongoing relationships with regular contact

• Validating the benefits of your product or service can be achieved brilliantly by using a video format for your testimonials at the end of your presentation. This provides a powerful ‘benefits-driven’ summary that confirms and proves your claims.

Just remember, the only thing better than saying the right thing at the right time is when your customers do it for you–and better.

• You and your team are already acutely aware of your most frequently encountered objections. That’s why testimonials should acknowledge and mention these objections, before explaining why they still decided to buy from your organisation. For example: “I was initially surprised with their prices until I saw the quality of their product and experienced their vast range of promotional services.”

Testimonials are really powerful when they acknowledge an objection that paces the probable experiences of your prospects, and then wipes out the objection with an overarching benefit.

• When requesting testimonials you are looking to obtain a genuine viewpoint that praises your organisation/product/service. Therefore, the best time to ask for this is when your customer has experienced the benefits of your product/service. To help busy customers respond to your request, provide them with other examples of testimonials so they can see how easy they are to write.

It also helps if you can provide them with a simple structure to follow, for example:
- Why did you agree to meet us?
- What persuaded you to buy our product?
- What benefits have you gained from using this product?
- How would you describe our level of service?

Testimonial selling is indeed the most powerful form of selling in the world … don’t ever doubt it!

News:

“You will make more friends in a week by getting yourself interested in other people than you can in a year by trying to get other people interested in you” – Arnold Bennett

I truly believe that every individual in the whole world is potentially only five or six contact steps away. This ‘five or six degrees of separation’ shows that even an entire population of over five billion people is still highly accessible.

However, for practical purposes, we don’t necessarily want or need to meet millions, or even thousands of people in different organizations, age groups, religions, professions, culture or places. We are just looking to develop a network that will eventually provide us with additional business.

Ideally, therefore, we need some kind of filtering or research system that will help us to build a set of relationships of high quality – or a strong network that can find people and resources both efficiently and effectively.

First Steps:
The first step in the filtering process is to establish what sort of contacts or relationships you think may be of value or benefit to you (or the organization of which you are a part). This is not to run counter to the idea that networking is primarily about giving, but suggests that some relationships are clearly more valuable in the long-term for both sides, given careful thought in the first place. Only you can determine this ‘value’.

You may already know – or be close to – someone very powerful or influential but gain no benefit from association. On the other hand, you may find someone in the street where you live who can bring you great benefit if you build a relationship with them. You just need to know what you’d like to achieve in order to make reasonable assessment.

Networking Pyramid:
When you start to network more widely, you quickly realize that there is a pyramid – or hierarchy – of depth or quality in all of your potential relationships.

Pyramid Levels:
At the base of the pyramid are what we call ‘suspects’. These are people who seem open to an approach to offer support – remembering my earlier point about giving and reciprocity.

It is usually better to find out more about suspects before approaching them in person. Many are often misidentified and only randomly picked. Only some suspects – when researched more closely – get to the next stage of becoming ‘prospects’.

Prospects are individuals who research confirms meet the effective network criteria, and can usually be approached in person. Once again, initial conversation may reveal that not all prospects have been correctly identified. However, the numbers of people at this level are fewer and you can be much more patient in letting time provide an answer.

Contacts are prospects to whom you have offered support and advice and whose assistance or guidance you have requested on one or more occasions. At this stage, you may have discovered only minor opportunities to call, talk or contact one another, but the potential to do more has been established.

Advocates are contacts that are openly promoting or advocating the benefits of networking (with you in particular) to other prospects and contacts. Although this may not mean frequent contact, it is likely to be more frequent than with general contacts in your network.

Partners are the best and most effective networkers than you know, and the ones you most often call to chat to, to ask advice, or suggest ideas or options. By this stage, the relationship has generally reached a much higher level of mutual trust and understanding.

Using the Pyramid to Look For Opportunities:
To begin to discover who might be your network suspects at the base of the pyramid, an excellent place to start is to read for opportunities much more widely.

This means becoming broadly alert to the many opportunities to network that may present themselves every single day. Many of these opportunities will be posted in newspapers, magazines, on notice boards, in advertisements, on the Internet and many other sources.

An increased alertness will count for little unless you have a well thought through perspective on what you are looking for. There is no point in networking for the sake of networking. To an extent, this will depend upon your overall personal networking aims and objectives.

Possible networking goals:
• To increase market share/customers
• To find new ideas
• To learn and develop yourself
• To find a job/work/career
• To find a new colleagues/friends
• To pursue a hobby or interest
• To gain new perspective on topics of interest to you
• To go into business for yourself

Different Kinds of Network:
Every one of these networking goals is a worthy aim in itself, but it is usually the case that only one or two goals of this type will apply at any one time. Consequently, your networking research efforts will be invested quite differently if your goals are broadly around work or career options rather than if they are about starting up your own business.

Hence, although a few people will have very wide and diverse interests and a broad array of interesting contacts, our networking pyramids are built according to our specific goals and interest areas. This is often why we talk about a jobs network, a small business network, an education network and so on.

Networking is not a new phenomenon but with the plethora of sites now specializing in bringing people together, it is certainly something business people should do well.

Personally, I enjoy networking very much, I always have …but then I like people!

News: Latest message from Klout that failed to pass the “so what?” test I am afraid:

My influence in the last period ….

1-day +0.13

7-day -0.02

30-day -0.63

I think I am going to dispute those figures, as I am absolutely certain that over 30 days my score should actually be – 0.625678, and so they really are not telling the whole story, or painting a terribly accurate picture.

Incidentally, as I shared with someone yesterday, prior to compiling and announcing the Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers for 2012 we surveyed 5000 senior executives, and one of the questions we asked was “When choosing a training/development provider, how important is the number of Twitter followers/Facebook friends/or their Klout score.” Guess what we discovered? It was a multi-choice question – “Very important/Quite important/Important/Not important/Totally irrelevant” – 93% came back with “Totally irrelevant”

This raises a number of questions, not least “Who or what is Twitter/Facebook for?” and I will expand on my thoughts in another post shortly, but I will leave you with this one thought – when you think about the most influential experts in the sales and marketing space – and I am talking about the real “big-hitters” – how often do you find them on Twitter/Facebook etc? More soon ….

I want to kick-off the week by looking at buyer motivation, because all meaningful actions are performed for some reason or purpose. This is commonly called “motivation.”

Success in selling requires an understanding of these basics of motivation:
• Your motivation both as a person and as a salesperson
• The other person’s motivation both as a person and as a buyer

The most important fact to remember in influencing the behaviour and decisions of others is that – “People do things for their reasons, not ours.”

Every successful sale then is made not so much because of the excellence of your product or of your sales pitch, but because consciously or unconsciously, you have found the human reason why your prospect should buy. You have found the door to their motivation and have opened it. The more you understand the function of human motivation, the more successfully you will sell.

In its simplest form, motivation emerges as a cycle. It starts with a want or need, expressed or hidden. Inherent in this is a problem, a problem that must be overcome in order to satisfy the want, which must be solved. Once solved, the want can be satisfied and the cycle is completed.

In terms of personal development there are several levels of needs.

You will no doubt be familiar with Maslow’s pyramid of needs - these needs are basic to everyone you sell to, live with, or encounter.

At the bottom of the pyramid are the Physiological Needs. These include food, shelter, warmth, sex and sleep. They are instinctive needs common to all living creatures. Until these needs are satisfied, the higher needs are purely academic.

Then comes Safety which is almost as basic. “Security” is another word for this need; security in one’s job, in one’s place in society…safety from unknown dangers…freedom from pain.

Love is a more sophisticated but no less essential need. Every human being wants others to care about them, to receive affection. They want to have the approval of others…to be understood…accepted…respected…to belong. And equally important, they have a need to be involved…to care about and give affection to others. The two are inseparable.

Self-esteem is equally essential. Every human being needs to feel that they are important in some sphere of life…that their presence on earth has meaning and significance. The mature person knows that this begins with self-respect. This need provides a tremendous motivational force.

Self-actualization is the highest need; for personal growth and achievement, for self-fulfillment, the best use of one’s capabilities, the fullest possible realization of potential, within an honest understanding both of the limitations and scope of that potential.

People of course, are different. Their needs will vary in degree, in shape and in the nature of their answers. But they are common to all. As you are alert to them, as you understand them, so will your success with others be measured.

How do people seek to satisfy their needs? Thorndike’s Law of Effect supplies the answer: “People tend to behave in a way to gain rewards and avoid punishment.”

Again, this varies with different people. Generally, people can be classified into three dominant types:
• The Achiever
• The Seeker of Social Recognition
• The Security-Minded
(But no one is likely to be a “pure” type)

The Achiever is most likely to be oriented toward gaining rewards.
The Security-Minded is likely to be dominated by the desire to avoid punishment.
The Social Type stands somewhere between the two.

These are the dominating factors. But in varying degrees, each has a little of the other two in them.

In terms of selling, whatever the dominant drive of your prospect, they are above all, buying benefits. Benefits are best defined in this context as the results of the product, which enable them to gain rewards and/or avoid punishment.

In making their decision, the buyer uses the “Minimax” principle: “To minimise their losses; to maximize their gains.”

This is true whatever the personality orientation. The emphasis depends again on their individual motivational drive.

The Law of Effect then – depending on specific motivation – relates directly to the Pyramid of Human Needs, and expands in this manner:

The benefits you have to offer are both negative and positive. The right emphasis, directed in the right way, offering both to determine preference is your shortest way to your objective.

In summary, according to Russell: “The essence of motivation is finding meaning in what we are doing. Motivation is an inner control of the individual.” In other words,only you can really motivate yourself.

All these concepts apply to you in all phases of your life and your work, as well as they apply to others.

Finding the right meaning in what you do will be the great motivator for a more effective you.

Understanding the nature of what motivates each person you deal with will enable you to help them make a decision favorable to both of you.

News: Excellent “Top Sales Tip” today from Linda Richardson over at Top Sales World – “Getting Paid for Out of Control Projects” and you can also catch my latest interview with Kevin Eikenberry – “No Goals – Less Success” – all HERE

Wendy Weiss

Good chum Wendy Weiss is recognized as one of the leading authorities on lead generation, cold calling and new business development.

If you are struggling to connect with qualified buyers or need to jumpstart your team’s production, I recommend that you download a free copy of Wendy’s newest e-book, The Cold Calling Survival Guide.

Wendy’s an amazing teacher. Her latest e-book will have you setting appointments with highly-qualified prospects within 24 hours. You can go grab it here.

Over to Wendy …..

What is the truth about cold calling? So many people believe so many negative myths about cold calling that sometimes it’s almost impossible to see beyond the darkness… Read on to discover:

Whenever someone subscribes to our email newsletter, “Opening Doors & Closing Sales,” they get an email from us asking them about their most pressing sales and/or new business development issues. We send this email because it helps us help our readers. When we know what’s on your mind, it makes it much easier to develop material that will help you.

Here is an email we recently received from a new reader:

“Since you asked, I want to let you know that I apparently suck at cold calling. I’m not a very good bullshitter.”

Wow! I feel for her. Talk about starting out from a difficult place…

But it’s not really her fault. Cold calling has been so demonized, people believe so many negative myths about cold calling that sometimes it’s almost impossible to see beyond the murkiness of the various stereotypes about what is essentially just a phone call.

This new reader unfortunately seems to believe that she needs to make stuff up and be incredibly manipulative in order to succeed at cold calling. Not true.

Here are some of the things that people believe about cold calling:

1. It’s a numbers game. It’s not. While you do have to dial the phone, sheer volume of calls is not enough to help you succeed. Today it’s simply too hard to get people on the telephone. Today you have to be targeted, strategic and skilled.

2. Cold calling is manipulation. Many people (see email from reader, above) believe that cold calling is about manipulating people into buying things they neither want nor need. Not true. Your cold call is simply your introduction. There are many ways to meet a prospect, this is one of them.

3. Go through the ‘no’s’ and hang ups until someone finally says, ‘yes’ to you. This is my personal favorite—really, who wants to do this? I call this myth the “Warrior Delusion” because a lot of cold calling training centers on how to deal with rejection. Instead, of learning to handle the ‘no’s,’ it’s a much better idea to learn the skills that you need so that prospects say ‘yes.’ Couple that with some strategic thinking and targeting and you’re in a much better place to succeed.

4. The Born Sales Person. This is a very insidious myth because it keeps people from taking action. (See the email from reader, above.) No one is born knowing how to cold call. It’s a communication skill and like any communication skill it can be learned and improved upon. (The Queen was lucky, early in her career she learned this skill and it enabled her to build a business. You can learn it too.)

Bottom line what we’re talking about is a phone call—the basic tool of any sales professional. It doesn’t have to be painful. It doesn’t have to be brutal. It’s simply a phone call.

If you’ve noticed that it’s more and more difficult to get prospects on the phone or to engage them when you do. If you’re struggling to ‘get in the door,’ I invite you to download my all new ebook, The Cold Calling Survival Guide.

Download your copy HERE

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling™,” is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Visit her at http://www.wendyweiss.com

The increasingly intense competitive challenges of the world economy challenge everyone - everywhere - to adapt in order to prosper under new rules.

In the old economy, hierarchies pitted labor against management, with workers paid wages depending on their skills, but that is eroding as the rate of change accelerates.

Hierarchies are being replaced by networks; labour and management are uniting into teams; wages are coming in new mixtures of options, incentives and ownership; fixed jobs melt into fluid careers.

As business changes, so do the traits needed to survive, let alone excel. All these transitions put increased value on emotional intelligence.

Competitive pressures put a new value on people who are self-motivated, show initiative, have the inner drive for outdoing themselves, and are optimistic enough to take reversals and setbacks in their stride.

The ever-pressing need to serve customers and clients well and to work smoothly and creatively with an ever more diverse range of people makes the ability to empathise all the more essential.

At the same time, the meltdown of old hierarchies increases the importance of traditional people skills such as building bonds, influence and collaboration. And that is as true for employers as it is for employees.

The task of the leader draws on a wide range of personal skills.

Research has shown that emotional competence makes the crucial difference between mediocre leaders and the best. Indeed, emotional competence makes up about two thirds of the ingredients of star performance in general, but for outstanding leaders emotional competencies – as opposed to technical or cognitive cues – make up 80 to 100% of those listed by companies as crucial for success.

Star performers show significantly greater strengths in a range of emotional competencies, such as the skills of persuasion, team leadership, political awareness, self-confidence, and achievement drive. Empathy, one of the key elements of emotional intelligence, is central to good management; it is difficult to have a positive impact on others without first sensing how they feel and understanding their position.

People who are poor at reading emotional cues and inept at social interactions are very poor at influencing others in the workplace – fact!

News: Finally sorted the preview pages for the brand new JFA site yesterday – thanks to Lindy Richardson for her input.

Big w/e coming up: Can Chelski overcome the might of Big Bad Bayern at home in Munich? No idea what I am talking about? Don’t worry about it, it’s called soccer and for some of us Brits it is a religion. Actually, it is more than that, we go every week!

A couple of very interesting guest posts whilst I take a break for a couple of days, so do pop back if you find yourself at a loose end, and I’ll be back on Monday. Bon weekend a tous! (Have a good one!)- JF

In a word, “Yes” – In five words, “Yes of course it is!”

Some interesting facts about referral based selling that you may not know:
• 85% of all sales people do not generate enough quality referrals.
• Salespeople who actively seek and exploit referrals, earn 4 to 5 times more than sales people who don’t.
• Referral business closes and converts more than 70% of the time.

Why is referral based selling so powerful?
A referred customer is already pre-sold on the credibility of the sales person, their company and the relevance of the products/services sold. These types of opportunities are much warmer than a cold-call based opportunity because it maximizes the goodwill, inherent in the relationship between the referred customer and the referring person. By association, sales people are consequently perceived in a different light compared to those that have made contact ‘out of the blue.’ – Sounds obvious?

The costs of selling to a referred customer are reduced because they are easier to see and are likely to be reasonably well qualified so that the probability for converting the business is much higher.

Generally speaking, referred prospects will accelerate through the sales pipeline at a much faster rate than other types of opportunities and they will also be more receptive towards providing future referrals.

What are the biggest barriers to obtaining referrals?
If asking for referrals has not been included and communicated in the sales process then this will deter sales people’s focus as they will see asking for referrals as a ‘nice to do’ rather than a ‘must do.’ This in turn usually means that there is no rigorous method for measuring and monitoring how many referrals are generated and what the conversion ratios are for closing referred customer business. Energy goes where attention flows, so without specific attention to this, sales people are unlikely to invest their energy in this direction. (Even if they are firm believers in the positive impact that referrals can create!)

For many sales people, asking for referrals doesn’t come naturally, because they feel unsure about how to do this effectively and they aren’t confident they will get their desired response. If people don’t know how to do something and they believe that what they are doing will damage their existing relationships, then it’s better to avoid it all together. Additionally, if sales people make the common mistake of asking for referrals too early on in the relationship, this can result in more refusals that further erode sales people’s confidence.

Therefore, to optimize the use of referral-based selling the following components are vital:
1. Asking for referrals and acting on them needs to be incorporated in the overall sales process.
2. Metrics around referrals should be sought and evaluated on a regular basis because this contributes towards furthering the rationale for generating them.
3. Development and training needs to be delivered to the sales team so they can maximize the impact of referrals and feel confident with this skill.

What is the best time to ask for referrals?
People will freely give referrals when they have benefited from your product/service and have an established relationship with you. This rarely occurs during the initial meeting because whilst they may like you, they haven’t yet validated what you can do for them. That’s why asking for referrals should be when the relationship you have established is strong enough to ensure their trust and belief in you.

Assessing the strength of your existing customer relationships can be very subjective unless there is a meaningful set of relationship criteria in place. Although these will vary from organization to organization, they may include factors like:
- Communication frequency with key influencers
- Satisfaction with product/service
- Speed of response to queries/problems
- Length of relationship

The customers with the highest scores (based on the relationship criteria) are those that should be approached for referrals.

What is the best way of generating referrals?
1. Prepare a description in the form of a criteria list that specifies the type of person or organization that you are looking to approach. This should be based on the profile of your “Ideal Customer.”

2. Evaluate all your customers using a relationship criteria and identify a list of those with the highest scores. For example, for every customer, your aim is to generate a minimum of 5 referrals. Therefore, if you have 25 customers on your list your target number of referrals will be 125.

3. Contact each customer on your list and take the pressure of them by explaining that you don’t want to sell to them, you would like their help.

You might say:
“Do you know anyone who is (specify your criteria) that would be interested in learning about how our products/services can benefit them?”

Preface your question with a softener such as: “I wonder if you can help me” or “I would really appreciate some advice”

3. When customers give you referrals, ask their permission to use their name when making contact. Alternatively, where your relationship is ‘rock solid’ ask customers to make the initial introduction by letter or email. Often customers will give a glowing testimonial and create a relevant context when introducing people.

4. Finally, thank customers for referrals and keep them apprised of your progress. This creates a positive association towards the giving of more referrals in the future.

Referral selling is the most powerful, most economic, and the most efficient form of selling that exists – fact!

Want to learn more about referral selling? Then I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the “doyenne” of referral selling, and the world’s top expert on the subject – my very good chum, Joanne Black. You will find Joanne HERE

News: Somebody suggested that the “holding” page put in place prior to the launch of my new consultancy looked like a funeral invitation, so we immediately sorted that out, as you can see HERE

As I have said often enough here on this blog, I enjoy negotiating very much: I have worked hard to learn and perfect my skills over many years, and practiced in a variety of circumstances – so allow me share just four secrets with you today …

A skilled negotiator will create high levels of rapport and be sensitive and empathetic to the people they are negotiating with, yet can still be hard on the issues. The ability to separate the people from the issues, and recognize that negotiations are often fraught with emotional intensity, can help sharpen the focus on the interests of the other party to better balance perceptions.

If the negotiation doesn’t appear to be going anywhere and your prospect is behaving like a bully, you might feel angry and frustrated. You may already have considered simply agreeing to their demands. In difficult negotiations, there are four vital behaviours that can increase your resourcefulness and consequently your opportunities for getting to “Win-Win.”

1. Manage your emotional state
Build rapport by matching the other person’s style, pace and approach until you have achieved a ‘connection’ Personalize the negotiation by using “I” rather than your organization’s name. This demonstrates your belief in your proposal and highlights your credibility.

In the face of feelings like anger, disappointment, frustration, confusion, and resentment, we often react without thinking. In such a situation mentally detach yourself and think about it before you respond. It helps to reframe attacks and tactical manoeuvres as feedback that the other person’s interests have not been fully acknowledged. Stay focused on your goal of reaching an agreement.

2. Look for quick mutual wins to build the belief “we can agree”
The more abstract your communication the more likely you are to reach agreement. Therefore, seek to gain agreement at an abstract level first and then get into the detail.

For example, if two people wanted what appears to be very different things, such as a) nuclear disarmament and b) more resources spent on defense, if you looked at finding out both sides highest intention, you may discover that ‘peace’ was the desired outcome for both people. Therefore, at this abstract level they have found agreement so the negotiation can continue by gradually getting more detailed.

Questions that chunk up your prospect into the bigger picture include:
- For what purpose?
- What’s your intention behind (negotiating point)?

Seek to address the easy/quickest areas of agreement first to reinforce the process of agreement is simple and straightforward. If you discover an area where agreement may not be reached quickly then agree to leave it until later. If some points become contentious it can help discussions if you both move your body, because the mind and body are connected, physical movement helps to create mental movement. That’s why a walk can work wonders during tough negotiations. Provide regular summaries of what you have both accomplished to install the belief that the negotiation is making progress.

Some sales people write out all the points to be negotiated on separate sheets of paper, then as each point is agreed they move the paper to a different place, so that the buyer can physically see the progress being made which serves to motivate the entire process.

3. Use active listening skills and ask questions to give you a greater understanding of the other person’s viewpoint
Giving good attention to people makes them more intelligent. Poor attention makes them stumble over their words and appear stupid. You are best positioned to change someone’s mind after you have listened to that person. People tend to close down and stick to their position until they feel heard. The goal of active listening is for you to hear and understand other people – their words, thoughts, and feelings, and to let them know you’ve heard and understood them.

Acknowledge their motivations, feelings, and point of view, even when you don’t agree with what they are saying. Your goal is to understand the message, not judge the validity of what they say.

4. Build trust by negotiating fairly
Demonstrations of power erode trust. If you are on the receiving end of this type of behaviour, describe your observations, and the consequences of continuing the current process. For example: “You know you’ve named what seems to me a low price, and so now I’ll name a higher price, and then we’ll each insist on our position until one of us gives in. I don’t find my best negotiations work like this.”

Then propose a different way to proceed, for example: “It would help me to understand the criteria of a fair offer if we could take a look at some of the relevant standards in this industry.” Before beginning the negotiation it can help to agree the ground rules and stick to them. Act with integrity and hold a healthy respect for the intentions of the individual you are negotiating with.

There is always a reason why a point of negotiation is important to the buyer and if we can appreciate more about their underlying reasons, this knowledge can be used and acted upon.

Strong negotiation skills are absolutely fundamental to becoming a top 5% sales player, so my advice is, do work hard to hone your skills.

News: A good friend of mine looked at the list of Associates lined up for my new consultancy today and remarked that it reminded them of a Pro-Bowl team – I think that is a huge compliment, and you’ll find out for yourselves on June 12th!

Most people are familiar with the old saying, “Easy come. Easy go” In the sales world we often observe that sales people who experience success quickly falsely assume that the sales profession is going to be easy.

After a month or two however, those fortunate few often reach a different conclusion. Without much sweat equity invested, they head off and look for the next rainbow. If only we could teach a new saying, “Easy come. Forget That” We may not be familiar with that saying, but we can look at a 19th Century opera composer who expressed it and set the example we may well want to copy.

After experiencing a degree of success with his very first opera, a young and unknown composer, Giuseppe Verdi, hit the big leagues by receiving a contract to compose two more operas for the most famous opera house in Italy – La Scala or to give it it’s proper and original name, Teatro alla Scala.

Talk about a winning sales presentation! One could certainly say that his success came quite easily.

Anything But Easy:
Verdi’s next opera was to be an “Opera buffa” a form of comedic opera, but the life events that preceded the opening night of that opera were anything but comical.

In August 1838, Verdi’s 16-month old daughter died suddenly. Just fourteen months later, his 18-month old son died of bronchial pneumonia. Only eight months after the death of his son, Verdi’s wife died after an illness of just five days. Within twenty-two months, Verdi’s entire family was wiped out. Imagine trying to write a comedy while the family members around you are dying one after another!

Verdi’s first success might have come easy to him, but the bad reviews he received from his second opera hardly sent him away crying. Instead he dug in his heels and decided never to pine for the approval of his critics. From that disaster he developed an intense emotional independence: Now there’s something all sales professionals can use – emotional independence.

One of the Great Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs:
In the sales business, it’s easy to see our prospects as the critics that hold our fortune in their hands. If our prospects tell us “No” we think the die is cast.

Time to let Verdi teach you one of the great secrets of successful entrepreneurs! Buck up, spit in the eyes of your critics (figuratively speaking, of course!) and decide once and for all that the only opinion that matters is your own.

Verdi cared little about what the critics said and he learned to face failure and success with equanimity.

One of his famous letters in its entirety simply said, “La Traviatta last night? a fiasco. Was it my fault or the singers? Only time will tell.”

Time told all right. Verdi is considered by many to be the greatest of all the Italian opera composers.

Puccini moves me, but Verdi inspires me and he is certainly my personal favorite.

I believe that we should all learn to face up to a poor result (note that I never refer to failure) and success with equanimity. That is with poise, with imperturbability, with (dare I say it?) confidence.

Let poor results be your instructor. Be willing to learn what you need to learn from each of them and then take three more giant steps forward.

It’s not the approval of the critics that we need to succeed; it’s the approval of one infinitely more precious. It’s the approval of someone who’s been with us for every moment of every day of our entire life.

Why not do what I do and end each day by giving yourself the critique you long for. It goes something like this: “I did the best job I knew how to do today. Well done!”

News: Thanks to all of you who requested details of our new “Sales Team Audit” We go live with it when we launch the new JFA site on June 12th, but I’ll try and send you all a pre-release prospectus.

It is a harsh fact but the reality is that not enough companies have learned how to employ sales training as a strategic tool: Those that have are leaders in their industries, offering their shareholders maximum return on investment, are able to quickly adapt to changing market conditions, are respected by their customers, and provide consistent sales performance. The sales people that work for those companies are motivated and stay in their jobs longer.

Quite often sales managers and executives don’t have the time and experience to do this correctly. Companies with internal training departments do provide guidance, but sales training is quite different from designing and delivering training to other constituencies within an organization, such as customer care, technical support, or human resources.

The first step for any company deciding to make a change in their sales approach is always an assessment of the situation.
• What processes and methods are currently being employed by the company?
• What has their sales performance been?
• What percentage of sales people are delivering against plan?
• What are the sales team’s strengths and limitations?
• What are the biggest obstacles to success?
• How dynamic or stable is the company’s environment?
• What are the practices and expectations of the buyers?

These are only a few considerations.

Designing or adopting a sales methodology is critical. Without that methodology in place, training is a tactical attempt to fix a larger problem. The selling methodology must be developed based upon the company’s unique situation—their market, their customers, how those customers buy, the complexity and price levels of the products and services the company offers, competitive pressures, reporting requirements, the participation of partners, the skill level of their current sales people, etc.

The primary objective of creating an individually tailored organizational development program has to be: “To achieve consistently superior results through the performance of every key individual” - after all, our people are our most important and indeed expensive resource; it therefore makes sense for us to want to see a full and proper return on that investment.

Specifically, we should seek to achieve optimum performance levels via a process and an all-encompassing framework for defining performance standards. This involves assessing, appraising, developing, implementing, reviewing and providing continual feedback on performance.

Emphasis is placed on creating an environment in which the ‘can do – will do’ mentality thrives and becomes the norm – success and achievement are expected and as a consequence are much more likely to happen.

This total approach enables forward thinking organizations who are committed to looking ‘outside the square’ and who are not afraid to mentally cross bridges that that their competitors have not even identified, to enter the land of “me – first” rather than the land of “me – too.”

It also offers the opportunity to develop excellence in the performance of the company’s teams and build the capabilities necessary to consistently over–achieve short, medium and long term objectives.

In my view, we should never lose sight of the following premise.

Premise 1: Whatever got you where you are to-day will not be sufficient to keep you there.

Premise 2: You can only succeed in business to-day if you understand what you are doing, how you are doing it and why you are doing it.

Premise 3: It is difficult to control external events if you do not have control internally.

Premise 4: Being competitive is an ongoing process not a single event.

A crucial first step in adopting the “total approach” is a full independent sales team audit, and you may be interested to learn that this is one of the first online services my new consultancy will be offering when we launch on June 12th: This exercise is designed to save companies huge amounts of money they might otherwise spend on ineffective, irrelevant or inappropriate sales team development initiatives.

More details soon … or if you would like to receive pre-launch details, please email me at jf@jonathanfarrington.com

News: If you missed the guest post yesterday and you live/work in Europe, please scroll down, as I have twenty complimentary passes for the upcoming Sales 2.0 Conference in London on June 7th – but be quick”