Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

The JF Guest Author Spot

9 Ways To Authentically Sell by Rochelle Togo-Figa

When we think about what we know about selling from the past, for some of us the image of the stereotype pushy salesperson comes to mind. The first thought many of us have is someone is trying to get me to buy something.

None of us likes the experience of “being sold.” We become distrustful and will quickly say, “I’m not interested.” Do you have to be like all those images we have of pushy salespeople? No. We all have different selling styles.

Have you ever watched individuals speak and you found yourself listening to every word they said? You didn’t know the individuals, but there was something about them that drew you to them. It happened because they were being genuine and real. They were being themselves.

Being successful in sales doesn’t come from being slick or pushy, or copying someone else’s selling style. That never works because people can sense you’re not yourself. The key is to understand who you are and be yourself.

Sales success begins with being who you are. It’s really is as simple as that. The prospect will come to you because they’re attracted to your authenticity. When you’re being real, your honesty and trust shines through, and people are drawn to you.

Let’s start to define what selling really is. Once you begin to uncover your own authentic selling style, you’ll start closing more business faster and with ease. Here are 9 ways to get you started:

• Selling is no longer being the slick, aggressive, and pushy salesperson.
• Selling is being more interested in the prospect than in what you have to say.
• Selling is creating a trusting and honest relationship with the prospect.
• Selling is being a keen listener and listening for what’s most important to the prospect.
• Selling is thinking of ways of helping the prospect.
• Selling is going the extra mile and doing the unexpected for the prospect.
• Selling is showing you genuinely want to help them get to where they want to go.
• Selling is making yourself easily accessible to your clients either by phone or email.
• Selling is being yourself. Remember, you are unique and special so let that shine through!

ASSIGNMENT:

On a piece of paper, continue to add to the list and write other ways to show your authentic selling style. Let your thoughts run free. Remember the key to successful selling is being yourself.

Each week take on (1) new way of authentically selling and begin practicing it with a client or prospect.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System(TM), a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com .

Today’s News: Rochelle is also a very recent addition to the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about her here

Tomorrow: Some hard-hitting thoughts about sales training.

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, that 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 need:

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-fulfilment, the best use of one’s capabilities, the fullest possible realisation 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 maximise 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.” Only you can 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 favourable to both of you.

Today’s News: As you know, I am always keen to promote Top 10 Sales Articles and with just five more weeks before we close the doors and prepare for the Top Sales Article Of 2007, the quality just gets better and better - do check out this week’s nominations for yourself.

I am continuing to introduce you to The Top Sales Experts and today it is the turn of Joanne Black. Joanne has been described as America’s leading authority on referral selling and she is the author of the best selling “No More Cold Calling” You can read more about Joanne here

Tomorrow: Appropriately, my guest tomorrow on The JF Guest Author Spot is none other than Joanne Black.

On Wednesday, I promised to share with you some of the advanced questioning techniques I personally use - here we are:

Probably the single most important skill that a salesperson can possess is good questioning techniques and it is certainly one of the most under estimated and under used selling skills. Several other sales techniques also rely heavily on your ability to ask questions effectively.

Types Of Questions:

There are basically two types of questions, open and closed (sometimes called indirect and direct). Open questions are used to get people to open up and provide information whilst closed questions are used to solicit commitment and will prompt a yes or no answer.

Once again our 80/20 rule comes into play. You should analyse your questioning so as to make sure that you ask 80% open and 20% closed questions.

Unfortunately closed questions are easier to ask and if we have a compliant client, we lapse into the bad habit of reversing the 80/20 rule and asking mainly closed questions. When you ask closed questions, even with the compliant client, you are doing yourself a great disservice. It will be as much by luck as by judgement that you are getting any information at all and what you do find out will be limited.

Once the art of asking open questions is mastered, we take the types of questions and expand and define them a little further, so that we can uncover and then develop needs:-

Open Neutral Questions - These get uninfluenced and non specific answers

Open Leading Questions - For long, influenced, specific answers

Closed Questions - To solicit a short, influenced answer, usually just yes or no

The Funnel Technique:

This is a questioning technique, or rather a structure, to use the technique within, that keeps you on track as you guide your prospect towards your service or product offering once you have uncovered the needs.

The technique relies on you using the prospects own words back to them and you must take notes. You will need to remember what the prospect says both now and possibly well into the future so do not rely on your memory

Steps Of The Funnel Technique:

There are four steps to the technique but that does not necessarily mean that it will always be only four questions:

1. Motivate, why you are asking the questions
2. Open neutral questions, to get non-specific, un-biased information
3. Open leading questions, to get specific, biased information
4. Summary and gain commitment with closed questions

Step One:

The first step is to motivate the prospect. You are going to hit the prospect with a barrage of questions so you want to prepare them for it. The best way to do this is with motivation not justification. You might consider using something they said to provide some positive stroking. For example you might make reference to the size of their company or department. They will be on the edge of their chair waiting to tell you about it in more depth! Be careful not to sound too patronising but top salespeople are genuinely interested to learn as much as they can about their client or prospects business and are very good at creating rapport.

Step Two:

Now you have them relaxed, you can begin to probe for information, pegs to hang the sale on and hot buttons. You want to find out as much as possible with.out leading or influencing the prospect. You want to encourage them to talk. You could ask them for instance, how their your company structured or what the partnership does Never use closed questions or be too specific at this stage.

At the second stage you will more likely than not get several pieces of valuable information. You must take notes because you may want to go through the funnel with each piece and maybe several times.

Step Three:

Once you have started to gather information and uncovered the hot buttons you, use open leading questions to pin point specific areas that you want to explore, exploit or lead the prospect into. Again, during Step 3, do not use closed questions.

Step Four:

Now you summarise using their words and information, so as to get their commitment of your understanding of the situation or their needs. You then wait for the commitment and go back to Step One.

Summary:

Questioning using the funnel technique is one of the most powerful selling tools available to you. The key to its success is to practice using it. First of all work on your open questions and then start to consciously differentiate between open neutral and open leading.

When you become skilful with this technique, selling becomes a lot easier, making small orders large orders is easier too! You can make the prospect ask for the products or services you have to offer!

Just remember to ask… How, What, Why, Where, When, Who, Which!

Today’s News:

    Diane Helbig is today’s Top Sales Expert in the spotlight. Diane is one of the most generous and gracious people I know: She gives her help and guidance freely to her friends and is always looking outside the box and challenging paradigms - and she has been in business from a very early age:

“As a child, I didn’t just have a lemonade stand – I had a candy and beverage business. From there I graduated to running a babysitting/summer day camp when I was 14 years old. From setting up the structure to recruiting customers to the daily operations, it was business at its best.”

You can learn more about Diane here

Tomorrow: Here in Paris, the temperatures have plummeted and everyone is talking about a very cold winter - maybe I will begin my Christmas shopping early

Wherever you are, have a great w/e and I will be back with you on Monday - JF

Uncovering prospect’s needs can be a painful experience, but it doesn’t have to be, here are some thoughts that will help you turn fact finding into a more pleasurable experience.

Working on the basis that you are dealing with the MAN (the person with the Money, the Authority and the Need) you must very quickly assess if you have a potential prospect or not. In other words can their needs be met by the products and services you have to offer. It may not always be obvious to the prospect that they can use your products but your industry experience tells you that they can. In this instance we are looking for an opportunity to uncover some needs. You cannot create needs - but you can uncover them.

The key to uncovering needs lies in good questioning techniques. Questioning is a skill that requires much practice and concentration but once mastered serves you well because it allows you to:

Sell Not Tell

Most emerging salespeople talk too much. They’re good talkers, they must be salespeople or all you need to be a salesperson is the gift of the gab, are often heard misnomers. Most prospects, at the sales stage, come to expect that a salesperson will probably talk at them, for too long and about very little, especially their needs. You want to do the unexpected with your prospects and sell not tell. Do remember that customers and prospects are most comfortable when they are part of the process and not part of the audience.

Listen

If you are talking you are not listening! If you do not listen you will never find out enough information about the prospect or their needs. Apply the 80/20 rule, you should use questioning techniques so that the prospect is doing 80% of the talking and you are only doing 20%.God provided us with two ears and only one mouth and we should use them in that order.

Uncover Needs, Painlessly

Rarely do you receive information unless you ask for it. You need information to sell your services or products and look for future sales possibilities. Skilful questioning means that you do not seem to be imposing on the prospect by asking too many questions.

Maintain Control

Using questioning techniques you can control the prospect in almost any given situation. You can guide the prospect towards acceptance of your solution. Should you need to, you can use questioning techniques to regain control and on Friday, I will share with you the funnel technique I use.

Today’s News:

  It gives me the greatest pleasure to introduce the next member of the Top Sales Experts team, Anne Miller. She is another member of Jill Konrath’s Sales Shebang superb keynote speakers and a top selling author of a number of highly successful books.The latest, is the excellent “Metaphorically Selling“ Read more about Anne here  

Tomorrow: “Mr Remarkable” himself, Kevin Eikenberry, makes a very welcome return on the JF Guest Author Spot.

The JF Guest Author Spot

“Stop Sounding Like a Self-Serving Salesperson” by Jill Konrath

After several months of leaving a series of voicemail messages for a prospective customer, she finally picks up the phone. “Marie Trent speaking,” she says in a flat tone.

Startled by the human voice on the other end of the phone, the message you spent hours crafting disappears instantaneously from your memory bank. Instead, you blurt out:

“Hi. My name is __ and I’m the sales rep for Generic Industries. You’ve probably heard of us. We’re the fastest-growing firm in the market right now and we have locations in 13 different cities. The reason I’m calling today is I’d like to get together with you to explore your needs and show you …”

“Excuse me,” she interrupts. “We’re already working with another company.”

“Which one?” you ask, fingers crossed.

“Newco. And we’re quite happy with them.”

“What do you like about them?”

“They take good care of us, they know our firm and their pricing is great.”

“Would you be open to considering other options? I’d be glad to show you what we could do for your company.”

“Not at this time,” she answers curtly.

“When should I call you back then,” you ask politely.

“Why don’t you try calling in six months.”

“Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time you took with me today. I’ll get back to you then,” you say, smiling inside because you “KNOW” it’s only a matter of time before get lots of business from this firm.

What’s wrong with scenario? Actually, just about everything. If you were the seller, I’d tell you that:

• You suffer from a bad case of delusional thinking. The buyer brushed you off, plain and simple.

• You interrupted someone’s business day with no thought as to what they were doing when they picked up the phone.

• You lacked a peer-to-peer approach. Intelligent buyers immediately sense you’re a lightweight when you’re so eager to settle for a ‘fictional” appointment six months from now.

• You solidified your prospect’s positive feelings about the competition by the questions you asked.

• You were entirely focused on “what’s in it for you” - not the value your prospect gets from your using your product or service.

Certainly that wasn’t your intention. You were trying to be nice, conversational and perhaps even avoid sounding like a typical salesperson. Unfortunately, that’s not how you came across. You sounded pretty self-serving.

Tips For Getting High Quality Appointments

1. If you’re sick and tired of getting yourself caught in situations like this, use these tips to help you change the game.

• Plan out multiple contacts before you even pick up the phone.

    • Develop multiple scripts highlighting various aspects of your value proposition.

    • Then, write out various emails you can depending on your prospect’s business situation.

    • Finally, develop a campaign you can roll out over time.

2. Make sure your message focuses on your value proposition. Ensure each contact states the clear business value that clients receive from working with your firm.

• “We work with clients to significantly reduce time-to-market on new product introductions.”

• “One of our customers saved over $1/3 million in just the past year by eliminating the redundancies in their system.”

3. Treat the person you contact like a human being, not a prospect. In calling a friend, you’d:

• Automatically ask if you were interrupting: “Is it a bad time?”

• Notice if they sounded distracted and address it head on: “Hey, if you’re swamped right now, I don’t want to interrupt. I’d rather catch you when you have a few minutes to talk.”

• Immediately suggest a future contact, initiated by you: “When is a good time to call you back?”

4. Prepare for the common obstacles prior to the call - and eliminate them if at all possible.

• “We already use ___.” You respond: “Well I assume a company of your size would be working with another firm. (pause) AND that’s why we need to meet … “

• “We’re really busy right now. We couldn’t possibly take time to look at options.” You respond: “You and I know that six months from now your workload isn’t going to be any lighter. AND that’s exactly why we need to get together …

• “Your prices are too high.” You respond: “Yes our prices are higher than others on the market. AND that’s exactly why we need to meet …”

Please note that the second sentence starts with AND, not BUT! Because ‘and‘ doesn’t negate your prospect’s perspective, they’re interested in learning more.

Then, reel off 2-3 valid business reasons that this prospect should get together with you. They need to flow out of your mouth without hesitation, so prepare them ahead of time. These are true statements, not slippery manipulations, so make sure you state them with quiet confidence.

If you (or others in your company) can’t come up with any reasons, then you’d better take a serious look at the sustainability of your business model. Just because “you want their money” is just not a good enough reason for them to meet with you!

Recently I interviewed Amy, the “Vice President of First Impressions” for a small technology firm. Using the phone and email, she arranges meetings between her company’s sales reps and Chief Technology Officers from Fortune 1000 firms.

In less than 8 months, she’s set up appointments with over 50 of these big companies. She’s a real telesales professional. If you heard her conversations with prospects, you’d think they were her long-time friends.

Amy focuses on business, treats these C-level executives as equals and enjoys her conversations with them. But, she also has at least 4 voicemail messages and 3 emails at her fingertips, ready to use as needed.

In addition to the above strategies, Amy recommends that you:

5. Piggyback off competitors, if at all possible. When you’re trying to get into an account, don’t immediately try to displace long-standing incumbents. Instead, position your offering as one the co-exists alongside their current supplier or even enhances it.

6. Keep “tweaking” your “message” till you get it right. In her first three months on the job, Amy didn’t set up one single appointment. Yes, she was extremely discouraged. AND, she kept trying new approaches till she found ways that worked.

7. Be yourself! Laugh with your prospects, enjoy them - and let them know you’ll be coming back.

SUMMARY

Sounding like a sleazy, well-oiled seller will not get you an appointment in today’s market. Think of your phone calls as business-to-business conversations with peers. That may be a hard mind shift to make, but it’s where you need to be. If your business acumen is lacking, start reading up on the subject so you can become conversant.

And, most importantly keep working at it! Try focusing on different aspects of your value proposition. Try reframing what you say. Change a word or two, if need be. But don’t keep doing the same thing, again and again. That’s insanity.

 Jill Konrath is a leading-edge sales strategist and business advisor who helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten time to revenue on product launches, speed up their sales cycle and achieve their revenue growth goals.

As a thought-leader in the selling and marketing arena, Jill speaks frequently to corporate sales forces and industry associations. She’s often featured in top business magazines including The New York Times, Business Journal, Entrepreneur, Sales & Marketing Management, and Selling Power as well as countless online publications. She’s been a guest of Entrepreneur Radio, Sales Rep Radio, Small Business Trends and more.

Several years ago, Jill started SellingtoBigCompanies.com to make her knowledge and expertise available to entrepreneurs, services providers and independent professionals. By creating this invaluable web portal, she became a highly sought after advisor to this growing market segment.

Her own client roster includes such well-known corporate giants as Hilton, 3M, Bombardier, UnitedHealthcare, Medtronic, RSM McGladreyand numerous technology/business services firms.

She is the mastermind behind Sales Shebang, a one and a half day sales conference for women who sell and if you haven’t booked your place yet, you can do so by clicking on the banner in the left hand column.

Today’s News: I have mentioned Sales Gravy before, but it is only recently that I have had the time to explore all the features - it really is a fantastic site full of free sales resources - you can check it out here

Tomorrow: It’s my turn again and I am going to discuss the most powerful form of selling……………..

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 Market 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: As you may well know, every week, the Top Sales Experts select ten sales related articles from a very small number of article communities and then vote for a winner; the details are always posted on Sundays at 18.00 hrs GMT: This week’s selection is exceptionally good but you can judge for yourself here. 

Tomorrow: On the JF Guest Author Spot, my very good friend, Jill Konrath is back: I was chatting with Jill on Friday and she is gearing up for Shebang which happens in just one week’s time - if you haven’t booked your place, there are still a few left, but do hurry!

  
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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: There are now just a few places left for the sales event of the year, Shebang, which is being organised by my very good friend, Jill Konrath: Many of the Top Sales Experts team are amongst the speakers, including: Wendy Weiss, Kim Duke, Joanne Black and Anne Miller. You can find full details over in the left hand column.

Tomorrow: After three weeks in the UK, I am heading back home to France and all the home comforts: It has been a great visit; I got to spend some time with one of my favourite clients; we finished the new Sales Practitioners site; launched the sampler of “JF’s Blogging Good Year”; made considerable cosmetic changes to the superb Sales Leadership Zone ; began work on the new Top Sales Experts site, having expanded the team considerably and found a publisher that I respect - phew!

As ever, wherever you are, have a really great weekend and I will be back on Monday - JF

 

 

 

 

The JF Guest Author Spot

In Part 1, I examined how the proliferation of media such as magazines, TV, radio, and the internet has made the salesperson as the provider of information and guidance to prospects obsolete.  Now, we examine the impact this change will have upon salespeople.

In reality, this change in the way prospects view salespeople has just started.  It will continue to grow month by month, year by year.  And, unfortunately, this isn’t simply a change in the way salespeople need to market.  This is a fundamental change in the way people buy.  This is a change in what sales is.  This is the eventual death of sales as we know it for most consumers and most salespeople.

Does this mean the death of the salesperson?  Yes, as we currently know salespeople.  There will still be salespeople.  Most will be nothing but order takers, customer service reps with the title of salesperson.  It will still take years to come to full fruition.  However, it is well on its way.  The only conversation most “salespeople” will have in the future will be a variation of “Do you have it in red?”  “Great.  What’s your price?”

Yet, the very nature of this change is offering a select few salespeople the opportunity to make more money than ever before.  This change in the way people view marketing and their desire to make their own decisions based on knowledge and information give salespeople who grasp the opportunity the ability to become a dominate force in their local markets.

There will always be a segment of the market that understands they need guidance by experienced, skilled salespeople.  No matter how dominate the do-it-yourself mentality becomes; there will always be those who want to work with experts.  In addition, many who will be tempted to go the do-it-yourself way will gladly pay more to work with someone they perceive as a genuine expert. 

We are in the process of changing from a sales environment to an expert environment.  Salespeople are becoming dinosaurs, relics of a bygone era.  But just as dinosaurs were replaced with mammals, salespeople will be replaced with experts—publicly recognized forces in their industry within their local area.

What is an expert and how do you become one?  How do you not only survive in this changing environment but also become a dominate force?

We must first understand what an expert is.  An expert isn’t the “best” in their field from a technical standpoint.  An expert isn’t necessarily the most technically capable financial planner, insurance agent, networking engineer, IT consultant, telephony consultant, or Realtor.  That is a myth.  Thousands of the top technicians wash out of business every year because although they may be among the best technically, they have on one to sell to.

An expert is an expert because they are perceived to be an expert by their target audience.  They have the image and reputation of an expert. 

If you want to become a top producer in the new expert environment, you must develop a public reputation as an expert.  You must develop a local reputation as powerful as the experts writing the articles, giving the interviews, and being quoted in the news media. 

Developing that image and reputation doesn’t happen by accident.  Those who are recognized as experts work very hard at creating their image and their reputation not by using the traditional marketing techniques and strategies used by the majority of salespeople, but by using the tools and strategies that create a public image and then supplementing that image and reputation with well thought-out marketing.  Marketing is still present; it is simply an adjunct to the salesperson’s lead generation, not the focus.

Creating a pubic reputation takes time and effort.  You must learn how to use the tools, then create and implement a plan.  It doesn’t happen overnight, nor is it simply using a couple of strategies.  Creating a public image and reputation requires the use of a number of media and tools in combination, each reinforcing and branching off from the others.

Although it isn’t necessary to use every possible reputation-building tool, an expert reputation requires the use of such things as press releases, blogs, writing educational articles and books, becoming an expert source for media and freelance writers, educational websites, public speaking, developing strong referrals from clients and customers, and creating alliances and partnerships with other experts.  Of course, there are other methods and strategies available. 

Creating a public reputation as an expert is moving from a marketing mindset to an educational and publicity mindset.  It captures the power of education and combines it with a message of unique status and stature within the salesperson’s field.  It converts selling to education and eventually brings it back to selling. 

If you want to thrive in the new expert environment, learning how to convert your business from being a salesperson to being a recognized expert is mandatory.  Whether you are relatively new to sales or an old pro, now is the time to begin to seriously work on moving your business to a recognized expert platform.  The change in how people buy is well on its way and grows daily.  Companies are actively preparing for the change and salespeople must also prepare.  And although the change will not favor the majority of salespeople, the future is brighter than ever for those willing to invest their time, money and energy in learning the new realities of selling.  

Paul McCord, president of McCord and Associates, a Houston,Texas based sales training, coaching and consulting company, is an internationally recognized authority on prospecting, referral selling, and personal marketing. His best-selling book on referral generation,Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), is quickly becoming recognized as the authoritative work on referral selling. His next book, SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar will be released in February, 2008. He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or through his sales training website at www.powerreferralselling.com 

Today’s News: There is a great interview on Salesopedia today - one of the newest members of the Top Sales Experts Team, Rochelle Togo-Figa, is in conversation with Clayton Shold and you can listen in here

Tomorrow: “Understanding The Three Post Sale Phases” - Yep, there really are three!!

The JF Guest Author Spot 

Death usually comes slowly in sales.  More salespeople died in sales in the 20’s because of an inability to find enough prospects to sell than for all reasons combined.  Same in the 30’s, and the 60’s, and the 90’s, and every decade in-between.  Finding prospects and marketing to them has always been the leading killer of sales careers, and that death has typically been a slow, agonizing one due mostly to a lack of effort on the part of the salesperson or more often, the ineffective use of the marketing methods they chose to employ to reach prospects. 

Today, the very marketing methods that have been used by both successful and failed salespeople for the past 100 years are themselves dying a slow, agonizing death.

There was a time, not too long ago, in fact, when prospects and clients looked to salespeople for advice and guidance.  Prospects knew they needed information.  They knew they needed help in finding and evaluating alternatives and solutions to problems and issues. 

In an environment where prospects needed salespeople, the personal marketing methods salespeople employ such as cold calling, fliers, direct mail, and such worked well to reach out to and influence prospects.  Moreover, a skilled salesperson could use those methods to set themselves apart from their competition.

Nevertheless, the sales environment is fundamentally different today from in the past.  Today’s reality is that prospects no longer need and a rapidly growing number no longer want salespeople involved in their purchasing decisions.  For most salespeople, the world has moved beyond them; however, they have yet to recognize it.  They’re still living in the past, in a world where prospects and clients needed them. 

For a great number of prospects, both individual and business, the salesperson as supplier of information and guidance is outdated.  These individuals and businesses have passed over the divide from those who feel a need to rely on a salesperson for guidance, to those who believe they can make better choices without a salesperson involved in their decisions.  Moreover, the numbers who are moving over to the do-it-yourself side of purchasing are growing larger everyday.

With the proliferation of the internet; the avalanche of books, magazines, and white papers addressing every conceivable subject; cable TV with programming covering everything from personal finances, to virtually every business subject one can think of, to the most intimate personal, family, and social subjects, a huge number of prospects believe they already have the information they need to make decisions.  Now, all they need is someone who will provide the cheapest price for the product or service the prospect has determined will solve their problem or meet their need.

The sales environment is undergoing a swift and dramatic change.  Over the past decade, prospects have become more aware of the bombardment of marketing they face everywhere they turn.  Their mail is dominated by direct mail offers.  Almost every internet site they visit is flooded with marketing and advertising.  Newspapers and magazines are more than 50% advertising.  Radio and TV are, of course, marketing driven.  Everywhere one looks is marketing:  billboards; the side of the car next to you may well have a magnetic sign marketing something; the license plate frame on the car in front you advertises the dealership the car was bought from; the pen in your pocket may well have some company’s logo; and the horde of cheap signs on the street corner advertising shops going out of business, cheap internet, cheap insurance, cheap everything. 

Then, of course, the cold calls.  Cold calls for investments, insurance, internet connections, phone service, you name it.  Cold calls at work.  Cold calls at home.  How many do you get everyday?  5?  10?  More?

Of course, we’re not done.  Spam.  How many spam messages do you get?  How many lotteries have you won this week alone?  How many dead princes, long lost relatives, and just plain old Good Samaritans died and their representatives have contacted you this week for you to claim your inheritance–or someone wants you to help them sneak ill-gotten funds out of some third world country?  How many lonely hearts have you heard from this week wanting to become “friends?”  How many offers for discount software, discount drugs, or incredible stock tips have you received this week?  How many legitimate businesses have stuffed your e-mail box with junk that you didn’t request and didn’t want?  I will typically get about 1,500 pieces of spam every week–over two hundred a day.  Everyday.

And what do all of these things have in common?  Well, besides being unwanted, all of the businesses pushing products or services claim to be the best.  They all claim to have the best price or the give the most value.  They all claim to have the best customer service. 

They all have the same message, which means none have any message.  Every direct mail piece is virtually the same, only with different pictures.  Every salesperson sounds exactly like all the other salespeople.  Every ad is just like the others.  None can be heard over the din of the racket made by all this marketing.

Is it any wonder people despise marketing?  Is it any wonder people will go to great lengths to avoid salespeople?  Is it any wonder that marketing and sales as it has been practiced in the past is dying?

Why are these millions of personal and business consumers convinced they no longer need you?  They believe they no longer need you because they are getting their information from “objective” experts, not from biased, commission-oriented salespeople.  They are making their own decisions without need for you because they have read an article or book, or heard a report by an unbiased expert who gave them “objective” information that they can act upon.  Rather than relying on the slanted and obviously prejudiced information a salesperson gives, they turn to the experts who they believe don’t have a dog in the fight. 

Prospects don’t want to be sold, despite what some salespeople and even some sales trainers think.  They want to be educated.  They want real information as a basis for making their own decisions.  They don’t want marketing; they want knowledge.  They don’t want sales brochures; they want reporting and facts.  They want to be dealt with as educated people capable of making their own decisions based on reliable information.  And whether they are right or not, they don’t believe salespeople provide that information.  Instead, they rely on recognized experts.

Moreover, companies are reinforcing this belief by rushing to provide these prospects with the means to make their do-it-yourself purchases at the lowest possible price.  There are companies in almost every industry you can think of that are catering to this growing mass of consumers.  There are thousands of these companies, and the list is growing daily.  Some companies even try to have it both ways by maintaining a traditional sales force while undermining their sales team by at the same time trying to lure prospects by providing a do-it-yourself internet site or 800 number where the prospect can purchase without having to speak with a salesperson.

Companies such as LegalZoom.com turn many legal document issues into a cheap, fill in the blank exercise.  Esurance, AIG, Geico, Progressive, and many others encourage consumers to eliminate the insurance agent for auto insurance, while other companies are doing the same for home, health, life, and even business insurance—after all, it’s just insurance and who needs an agent to make the purchase more expensive?  Mortgages, investments, real estate transactions, and hundreds of other products and services also have their version of the do-it-yourself product and service provider.

In part 2, on Thursday, I look at what this radical change in buyer behavior means for salespeople and personal marketing.
Paul McCord, president of McCord and Associates, a Houston,Texas based sales training, coaching and consulting company, is an internationally recognized authority on prospecting, referral selling, and personal marketing. His best-selling book on referral generation,Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), is quickly becoming recognized as the authoritative work on referral selling. His next book, SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar will be released in February, 2008. He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or through his sales training website at www.powerreferralselling.com

Today’s News: The more observant of you will have noticed a new widget in the left - hand column; yep, “JF’s Blogging Good Year” is ready to download: It is a sampler edition and as I said in the introduction, I do hope you feel compelled to buy the hardback version, which will be on the shelves before Christmas.

Tomorrow: ”The Two Combat Strategies Regarding Objections”

Sales presentations become so much more compelling at the point when you have identified and agreed all your prospects requirements, and have tailored your presentation so that it illustrates how you can completely satisfy their agreed requirements. If you can then add your unique strengths to what the prospect is looking for, your proposal becomes stronger and much more persuasive.

Here are ten suggestions that help improve the effectiveness of any presentation:

1. Find out in advance how much time you’ll have and plan that your presentation will take approximately 75% of the allocated time. This leaves sufficient time for questions and through handling of any objections that you may encounter.

2. If you are in a competitive situation, find out when the other suppliers are scheduled to present and if possible try to be the last presenter. The reason this can be so important is because your prospect can make a proper comparison of your presentation in light of your competitor’s presentations, meaning that they are better equipped to recognise the added value you provide. This also creates a stronger possibility that you can get a decision from them at the end of your meeting.

3. When structuring your presentation start with a quick review of the prospects’ goals and objectives, and then list their agreed requirements. This will determine the sequence and structure for your presentation, because ultimately you’ll want to highlight how your solution meets each one of their requirements. During your fact-finding meeting you should have obtained a priority of their requirements so that you can address their most important requirements first.

4. Throughout your presentation incorporate relevant customer testimonials that validate the points you are making, and if you refer to research statistics ensure that you quote the source.

5. At the beginning of your presentation you want your prospect to be interested and compelled to listen to what you are about to present. That’s why structuring your opening in a format to appeal to all types of prospects makes it easier for them to understand your message. Therefore, open your presentation by addressing 4 main questions:

• Why will the prospect benefit from your presentation/products/services?
• What will be covered during your presentation?
• How will you be conducting your presentation?
• When will the prospect be able to ask questions?

This simple structure is based on David Kolb’s work on learning styles, where he categorised people’s ability to learn into four learning dimensions:

• Concrete experience - learning from specific experiences, relating to people, and sensitivity to feelings and people

• Reflective observation - careful observation before making a judgment, viewing things from different perspectives, and looking for the meaning of things

• Abstract conceptualisation - logical analysis of ideas, systematic planning, acting on intellectual understanding of a situation

• Active experimentation - ability to get things done, risk taking, influence people and events through action
Bernice McCarthy, developed “The 4MAT” system based around these four main learning styles, each of which asks different questions and displays different strengths during the learning process.

The Four Learning Styles are integrated into a cyclical approach that:

- Begins by explaining WHY the audience will benefit from your presentation. This provides concrete motivation in an innovative way to create interest and an openness to want to hear what you have to say.

- The process then continues by explaining WHAT you are going to talk about. This enables the audience to think through the concepts you are about to present and formulate them in an analytical way.

- The next stage is the abstract conceptualisation stage that explains HOW you’ll be delivering your presentation.

- This then leads to the final stage; the active experimentation stage where you want to encourage IF questions so they can apply what you have said to different contexts.

6. Use visuals in your presentations because a picture is worth a thousand words. Support your important points with graphics and images yet keep them simple to maintain interest while conveying relevance. This is particularly important if your prospect has a dominant Visual communication style.

According to the Robbins Research Institute, they have identified the 12 most persuasive words to use when selling.

These are: Discover, Free, Guarantee, Love, Money, New, Proven, Safe, Save, You, Results and Exciting.

By combining some of these words into your visuals as well as in what you are saying will help ensure your prospect remains alert and interested.

7. A good presentation will clearly communicate all of your unique strengths and reasons why you are their best choice. Ultimately, most prospects want to know two things:

- Can you do what needs to be done?
- How can you do it better than the other options we are considering?

8. Seek to gain agreement throughout your presentation either non-verbally or by asking questions, for example, “How does this sound?” After demonstrating a capability you could ask, “How would this be an improvement?” or “How would this help?” Interactive presentations keep prospects more involved and interested. Throughout your presentation focus your attention on your prospect, checking that they are receiving your proposals positively.

9. Handle small customer objections as they occur and agree to handle larger
objections at the end of your presentation. This ensures that the flow of your message remains on track, and you may have answered their objection during the process of presenting.
 
10. If your prospect is not in a position to make a decision at the end of your presentation, schedule another appointment. Come up with a reason to get back in there.

Even if the decision is not in your favour, you’ll receive some valuable feedback that you can incorporate when you next present to other prospects.

Today’s News: Yesterday, I issued the Prospectus to the expanded Top Sales Experts team, together with our vision for 2008 and the response was fantastic: Clearly, this group of sales gurus are going to work so well together and I am tremendously excited.

We also finished the cosmetic changes to SLZ - www.salesleadershipzone.com and I have to say the team have done an amazing job with the new Group site - www.thesalespractitioners.com

Tomorrow: I rest? I wish :-(  I have the copy of the “JF’s Blogging Good Year” sampler to read through and blog postings to prepare, plus planning three days with my favourite clients next week - oh, and of course, gearing up for the biggest rugby match for four years: Wherever you are in the world, have a great w/e and if it’s in Paris on Saturday, come and say “Hi” you will easily spot me amongst the 50.000 England fans Swing Low You Sweet Chariot - Just bring me home.