The ability to build rapport with customers and prospects is vitally important. Why? Because, if you have rapport with your customers, they are more likely to trust you, listen to you and communicate openly with you.

This in turn enables you to interact more comfortably and work more effectively together. Rapport dramatically increases your chances of winning a sale. Having rapport means that when there are tough issues to discuss, for example price increases, you can more easily find agreement and solutions, and move on.

Classic research by Robert Birdwhistle looked at how face-to-face communication was received and responded to. His figures suggest that your impact depends on three factors – how you look, how you sound, and what you say.

His research broke it down: 55% body language, 38% quality of the voice and 7% actual words spoken.

Rapport involves being able to see eye-to-eye with other people, connecting on their wavelength. So much (93%) of the perception of your sincerity comes not from what you say but how you say it, and how you show an appreciation for the other person’s thoughts and feelings.

When you are in rapport with someone you can disagree with what they say and still relate respectfully with him or her.
The important point to remember is to acknowledge other people for the unique individuals that they are. Rapport can be described as ‘when two people are like each other, they like each other!’

Rapport builds trust and without basic trust communication can become stilted.

When communication between two or more individuals reaches its optimum it’s said that a perfect rapport has been established. On the other hand, when communicating with a customer or prospect is hard the situation becomes rapport-less. Some people we meet may inspire an instant connection and immediate trust, while another person can be very polite and charming, yet we don’t feel any connection with them and our communication feels unnatural.

When two or more people meet they immediately start an automatic process of comparison with the other. If the outcome of this process is judged that the other person is similar in some way then rapport is established. When people are in a state of rapport they tend to respond easier to our instructions, suggestions and influence.

Rapport is often seen as the foundation of all good communication.

Today’s News: My TSE Masterclass last week was extremely well attended, and my thanks to everyone who sent me such encouraging and kind compliments afterwards – it really does make it all worthwhile! If you missed it, but would like to find out what all the fuss was about, it’s not too late – just glance over to the left hand column, and you can download it for listening at your leisure – do we have rapport yet?

About a week away from the launch of the jf Corporation – what’s that all about Mr F? I hear you mutter. Wait and see, but be prepared to be impressed – I am! There might be a clue in the name?

Oh, alright, here you go….

But that’s “all you need to know” ….for now!

Tomorrow, I have some FREE places for you – you really do not want to miss the most controversial debate of the year so far, do you?

Here are the thoughts from one of our panelists, Dr. Greg Stebbins

“The people of our generation started to radically change the corporate infrastructure. First mini-computers, then personal computers, then the Internet, email and finally the Web.

Gen X and Gen Y have leveraged the technology, but didn’t invent it. So there are some fundamental disconnects when discussing depth of understanding. They know how to do it, but don’t know why it’s done that way.

Today, all of that has changed. Gen X and Gen Y were raised totally different from each other. As boomers we were expected to go out and produce or lose our job or get demoted. Gen X – the slacker generation – just didn’t care about that. They wanted a life and most were willing to sacrifice praying to the alter of gold coins. Gen-Y – the coddled generation – calls their Mum and asks what they should do.”

You will not want to miss the lively discussion! You can even join in – FREE, with my compliments – register HERE

The JF Guest Author Spot

Linda Richardson

Many of the customers we are talking to may be like your customers.  Their budgets have either been cut or all but vanished.

They also have something else in common:  their goal to increase revenue and save money in the short-term. You already know how important it is to justify your value to a customer.  But — never before has value justification taken on such a critical role in closing business.  It now is the key to finding, unlocking, and creating budgets.  And the nature of value justification has changed.  We are not only in a spreadsheet world but a world that is demanding creativity in finding rationale to buy and identifying non-typical pockets where budgets may be found.

I spoke with a salesperson who, in my view, is a master at conjuring up budgets even when the customer had been unsuccessful in doing so him or herself.  It is said that “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  This seems true for the salesperson.  His product was so new and original that not only was there no budget for it (even in good times), there was no one with the responsibility for it.

After identifying who in the organizations were most apt to have needs for his product and then engaging in need dialogues with them and being told there was no budget, he leaned heavily on metrics and creative analysis to prove his product was a smart move and would help his customers achieve their objectives.  He captivated and convinced one customer by showing that if his product increased the performance of one of the company’s 500 sales reps by 5%, that increase would pay the full cost of the investment.  This brought not only a smile to the customer’s lips, it gave the customer a rationale to bring to his boss and get the OK.

He showed another customer how his product amounted to .0001% of their total revenue and compared that to the increase in productivity.  For another customer who put money aside for replacement of full-time equivalents in anticipation of the company’s 10% turnover, he showed that by reducing that fund by one person, the cost of the product was covered, and this potentially reduced turnover and gave needed support to his team of managers.

In each case, he was able to close because he spelled out his value justification in a way that was graphic, concrete, tangible, practical, reasonable, and believable.

Today, it’s necessary to go beyond “normal” thinking about value justification.  It’s necessary to really understand the company’s business, deeply probe the customer’s needs and find a direct link of your product to the customer’s shorter-term objectives, and then justify the price specifically.  It takes searching every nook and corner for ways to illustrate value justification.

Closing starts in prep time when you think about the value you bring to the table and continues in the deep need dialogue you lead so you can graphically show dollars and cents value.  While the value you show can be longer-term, today, the shorter, the better, and the more specific, the more compelling.

Linda Richardson is the Founder and Chairman of Richardson, a global sales training business. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence for 2006 and in 2007 she was identified by Training Industry Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Read more about Linda

Many of my colleagues and friends do not enjoy negotiating – in fact they absolutely hate it. Me, I love the cut and thrust, and look forward to that stage of the buying cycle. Here are some thoughts.

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 recognise 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’ Personalise the negotiation by using “I” rather than your organisation’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 defence, 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 ask 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.

Today’s News: The very latest chapter from SalesNexus’s brilliant new Ebook has just been published ……

You can download the fourth chapter HERE

Or you can register to receive the entire book HERE

Or you can even watch the video HERE

Which may surprise you:

• 40% of sales people are failing in their sales careers.

• 45% of all sales people earn the average income for their industry.

• A typical sales person devotes only 10-20% of their time to actual selling because a large proportion of their available time is devoted to cold calling.

• 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 maximises 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’.

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 is uncomfortable 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 optimise 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 maximise 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 organisation to organisation, 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 organisation 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 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.

For example:

“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 appraised of your progress. This creates a positive association towards the giving of more referrals in the future.

Today’s News:  Message just in from fellow Top Sales Expert, Danita Bye…

Dear Jonathan,

Learning from the past and the present is essential to being in business. But, dwelling on these is a surefire way to stall growth and rob you of your unwavering determination, unapologetic perseverance to future success. 

Look and think forward to a profitable 2010 with my new presentation, SISU Thinking: Turning the Conditions You’ve Got in the Business You Want.

Better business doesn’t have to wait for the economy to get better.  In this energizing presentation, attendees will learn the following:

tools to exploit the possibilities present in your resources
tactics to build a better business in any economy
techniques to tap your creativity

When: Friday, February 5th, 2010 – 7:30-9:15am
Where: Sheraton Bloomington, 7800 Normandale Boulevard, Bloomington, MN  55439

To register: By calling (651) 398-7912, emailing CindyMik@chater.net or register online.

I expect you have heard the expression, “People who fail to plan, are planning to fail” and nowhere is this more true than when it comes to planning sales activity.

Selling is both an art and a science.

To put it another way, a sales person’s skills determine their level of artistry at selling and their strategic planning provides a scientific platform for their sales activities. One of the characteristics that makes a sales person successful is careful use of their selling time.

Time is something that doesn’t stop, yet how it is used, affects performance that can leverage the impact of sales activities.

To influence sales results you need to work on your sales activities. For example, all the sales activities you have undertaken in the past have produced your current results. The sales activities you perform today will create your future results. Therefore, there is always a time delay between activities and results. Focusing on activities in a well-planned way naturally increases results. The Sales Platform concept is a sophisticated process for analysing, planning, directing and monitoring the activities of sales people.

The Sales Platform features three main elements:

1. Buying Platform – This comprises of existing customers who are purchasing from you on a one-off basis or a regular basis. This segment of the platform requires two strategic sales approaches:

• Sales actions that reduce the risk of losing customers (a proportion of customers are lost over time due to a variety of reasons)

• Sales actions that can generate incremental business from existing customers (it’s easier to get new business from existing customers compared to prospects)

2. The Working Platform – This comprises of prospects who have been visited yet aren’t currently buying. This segment of the platform is extremely time intensive yet is a crucial part of the development of an ideal customer base. The sales approach in this segment is to accelerate prospects through the pipeline until they become a customer.

3. The Market Platform – This comprises of leads that have not yet been qualified as prospects that have the potential to become customers. This segment of the platform is the vital preparation phase to replace lost customers and grow existing business in the longer term. The sales approach in this segment is to select the right type of opportunities that have the potential to become prospects. Banks of qualified prospects can be built up if appropriate – ready for a concerted attack on a targeted part of the market place.

In an ideal situation and based on the market conditions there should be a good balance between all three platforms.

Excess Buying Platform activity will constrain the growth of the business into those areas that are identified as the opportunities of the future. It is also a symptom that the organisation has got itself into a rut or a ‘comfort zone’, that the communication of policy is poor, that management is not controlling the work, or that people lack the confidence to tackle new areas (or a combination of all of them).

Too much emphasis on the Marketing and Working Platforms is inefficient and will increase the cost of sales unnecessarily. Without a strong base of long-term customers, this will dramatically reduce the potential for growth, and could well lower the reputation of the organisation.

I have been using this method of activity planning for almost twenty years and I can promise you it works!

Today’s News: Over at Salesopedia, it is “Steven Rosen Week“

This week Salesopedia profiles sales leadership coach Steven Rosen. Steven’s inspires sales leaders, managers and sales people to achieve more and obtain better results. From sales rep to sales VP, he knows sales from top to bottom and how build effective teams. In short, he knows what you are up against.
 
Steven is a compelling figure in the world of sales leadership, we think his insights will inspire you.
 
We know they have inspired us!
 
Enjoy,
 
The Editors

Despite what many inexperienced salespeople think, the first sale isn’t the end of the sales process but the beginning of the next sales cycle.

What you do after you’ve made the first sale determines whether you get the next one or any referrals. New customers have a tendency to evolve through three phases once they decide to buy from you.

Initially they feel very excited about their decision before going through a learning curve where they may struggle with blending in your products/services. Finally, they begin to experience the value that you provide and the relationship settles down and finds its own balance.

During Phase 2 this can be a potentially vulnerable time for a sales person, because without the benefit of an established track record, in the face of possible problems, no matter how minor, this is the time when most newly acquired customers are apt to change their mind.

The process of buying has four main components that all customers will evolve through.

They:

1. Have to be motivated to want to buy from you
2. Make a decision to buy from you
3. Want to feel convinced that they have made the right decision
4. Look for reassurance that they are doing the right thing

Once the customer has placed their order they are at the second stage in the buying process. If a sales person doesn’t provide the relevant reassurance that validates the benefits of their decision, then the likelihood of the customer cancelling their order increases dramatically. This is often referred to as ‘Buyers Remorse.’ Therefore, it’s important to provide tangible demonstrations that the customer has made the right decision. These can include, the use of testimonials, higher initial servicing levels, regular contact and if appropriate training sessions on the areas effected by the introduction of your product or service. There are a number of additional ways that can improve the post sale part of the sales process:

• Set a service agenda for the first thirty days after the sale so that your customer knows exactly what they can expect from you. This may include visits and phone calls at the point when they receive your product or your service begins. This enables you to have established contact frequency at important times when teething problems could occur.

• Ask each customer for their preferences in the way you manage their account and ensure that they have all the contact information for every eventuality.

• After the call send a hand-written note thanking them for their business. This is a personal touch that only takes a moment to do, yet leaves the customer feeling valued and special.

• Identify what areas in particular the customer feels is vital to the way you manage their account so that you can pay close attention to these areas.

• Agree up-front how future problems will be handled.

• Document all successes and evidence of your value in writing. For example: “I noticed that your delivery was received on time last Thursday and am delighted that you now have our products in stock.”

• Actively ask questions to check their satisfaction. For example, “Was everything as you had expected?” “Is there anything we need to change?”  This helps to flush out problems and manages the customer’s expectations so they feel they are genuinely being looked after. If there is a problem, the earlier you know about it the sooner you can remedy it

• Finally, resolve any complaints quickly and to the customer’s satisfaction.

Today’s News: You still have time to register for FREE,  if you are remotely interested in dramatically improving your results in 2010 – I would love to have you come and join me – simply click on this banner.

The most valuable resource we have is time and sales people more than anyone know how challenging it can be to cram everything that needs to be done into their available time.

According to Stephen Covey, author of ‘First Things First’ we should focus on our high priority tasks, those that provide the biggest levers towards achieving our goals. That is why being clear on what you want to accomplish in every facet of your life, will determine the importance and therefore the priority of everything you need to do.

Essentially, we spend our time on tasks that are categorised into one of four areas:

1. Urgent and Important – these activities will include crises, pressing problems, deadline-driven projects, meetings and preparation for all of these things. Whilst we do have to spend time on these tasks, it is vital to appreciate that many of them become urgent because of a lack of planning.

2. Important and Non-Urgent – these activities include preparation, prevention measures, planning, relationship building and creating. In fact, all these types of tasks can be summarised as activities that are directly linked to the accomplishment of our long-range goals.

3. Urgent and Not Important – these activities will include interruptions, some phone calls, some emails and reports and those types of tasks that we may enjoy doing – popular activities. The term ‘urgent’ can create the perception that these types of tasks are important.

4. Non-Urgent and Not Important – these activities will include trivia, some phone calls, junk mail, time wasters, watching mindless television shows and anything that we do to escape doing those tasks that we need to do. If we are battered by spending too much time on urgent activities, we may seek solace through doing these types of activities. We can summarise these tasks as those that waste our time.

When working on urgent tasks, two things are likely to occur. Firstly, the feelings of urgency, creates an adrenalin rush that can fill us with a sense of excitement. Once the urgency has been withdrawn from our situation, we can feel down and depressed. This develops into an addiction to urgency – we crave the highs and do whatever we can to avoid the lows.

Secondly, urgent tasks can create a ‘choking effect’ when we feel so overwhelmed that it impairs our ability to think clearly. Neither reactions are helpful if we want to remain in a peak state over a long period.

Many people who experience ‘burn-out’ have spent too much of their time working on urgent things, this creates an imbalance and they simply become exhausted. They simply cannot see ‘the wood from the trees’ and negative thoughts begin to dominate the positive ones.

Many sales people become stuck at a certain level of success because they have allowed themselves to become buried under countless details, demands and activities that drain their energy.

When people have more balance and more free time to devote to important tasks they are rejuvenated and better equipped to increase their productivity. This is why spending a larger proportion of our time on activities that are important yet not necessarily urgent gives us a greater sense of control over our lives.

Planning your time accordingly will save you time and ensure that you remain focussed on those tasks and activities that take you closer to your goals. Also by scheduling your tasks, you are more likely to complete them.

And finally …want to gain a thirteenth month every year? You will enjoy this

Today’s News: Word just in from colleague and fellow Top Sales Expert, Dan Adams.

Trust Triangle Selling Unveils ‘Selling Power® Sales Strategizer™’ – First Deal-closing Application for the iPhone and iTouch

Here is good news for B2B sales executives: the creation of the Sales Strategizer; a brand new iPhone and iPod-Touch application designed to close more deals at higher margins.

This game changing technology assumes the role of a virtual deal coach that can be deployed instantly and it is available 24/7. A “Pro” version offers more advanced features outlined in the press release. A quick review is available online: http://www.salesstrategizer.com/

Full Disclosure: I never accept financial reward for making recommendations, and further, I only recommend the products/services  of trusted colleagues and friends. JF