Sales/Business Development |

Don’t Threaten Me

Posted on May 20, 2011August 16, 2013 by admin

I was at breakfast with a friend the other day and we were talking about networking and building our respective businesses.

“I don’t think I’m threatening enough.” He said.

Excuse me. I wasn’t sure I heard him right so I asked him again. He reiterated that a very successful sales coach told him he’d build his business much bigger if he was more threatening.

“You’re too nice a guy”, he said. “Everyone likes you and feels very comfortable with you so it’s hard for you to switch into sales mode.”

My friend felt very uncomfortable with this. He didn’t feel comfortable switching into “sales mode”. He genuinely likes people and doesn’t like to pressure anyone into a sale.

This pressuring, “sales mode” attitude is why most of us hate salespeople. It’s also why most people are uncomfortable selling. Hard driving sales tactics and techniques are just not who we are. They make us uncomfortable and make our prospective clients put up a great big wall between us.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in, and coach people, on sales processes and techniques that increase the likelihood of making the sale. However, these don’t need to be aggressive and unnatural. These can help you to build relationships instead of tearing them down.

Here are 3 tips for a no-pressure, natural, relationship building sale:

Don’t throw up

The most important thing to all of us is…ourselves. So when we meet someone new at a networking event, or we meet with a prospect, why do we show up and throw up? Why do we insist on talk about ourselves so much before we know anything about them? If people are most interested in themselves, we should spend 80% of the time asking them open-ended questions to find out more about them. They’ll love you for it and it’ll have the added benefit of telling you what their “hot buttons” are and if they’re a true prospect.

Consult, don’t sell

People don’t want to be sold. They want their problems solved. Instead of selling them, try to help them solve their problems. This shows them what you can do to help better than a canned sales pitch or a PowerPoint presentation. Some people are concerned that would mean giving their services away for free. However, spending 15 minutes or an hour helping someone solve their problems seems like a small investment to make to gain a new client.

Are you open?

”Are you open to some help with that?” If you haven’t “thrown up” and you’ve “consulted” instead of “sold”, closing the sale becomes much easier. Instead of closing hard using a traditional sales technique, all you have to do is ask this one simple, non-threatening question. Most people are “open to some help”. It doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to make the sale, but it does mean you’re much more likely to openly discuss the potential to do so.

Selling this way will ensure that if you don’t make the sale, you’ll at least make a friend. And friends refer other friends. You win either way.

What’s worked for you? What tips do you have to make the sale and make a friend at the same time? We’d love to hear them.

How to Cure an Ailing Sales Process

Posted on May 2, 2011August 16, 2013 by admin

“Selling’s hard,” she moaned, shoulders drooping. “I get told “No” a lot more often than “Yes” and I’m not sure how long I can keep this up.” How many times have we heard comments like this from a sales person? Selling is hard, but for many it’s harder than it needs to be. With a proper mindset and the right approach, sales can occur much more “naturally.” So what does it take to be successful at sales?

1 – Sales Requires a Buyer’s Mindset

Many sales people have a selling first mentality, focusing primarily on their products and services. Their approach is all about the sale, the transaction itself…closing the deal. I’ve heard it termed the NIGYYSOB (“Now I’ve got you, you SOB”) mentality. A more appropriate mindset is that of an “assistance buyer,” which is all about helping your prospect understand their challenges and address their problems. This approach requires getting to know each other, building rapport, and discovering the prospect’s wants and needs, instead of merely “throwing up on them” about your wonderful products and services. Jeffrey Gitomer says that “People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.” If you can help solve their problems versus merely trying to sell them something, your chances of success increase substantially.

2 – Selling Takes Time

Sure, some sales happen quickly, but they are the exception. Relationships need fostered, trust and credibility developed, and an understanding of each other’s needs and wants gained. Typically, all of this takes time, and frequently it takes lots of time, involving multiple contacts or “touches,” as shown by these sales statistics (if you are not familiar with them they might surprise you):

2% of sales are made on the 1^st contact
3% of sales are made on the 2^nd contact
5% of sales are made on the 3^rd contact
10% of sales are made on the 4^th contact
80% of sales are made on the 5^th to 12^th contact

If you believe these numbers, what do they say about your sales process? If it is true that only 1 in 5 sales occur before the 5^th contact, what do you need to change? Are you staying in touch and adding value throughout the entire buying/selling process or are you pushing too hard or giving up too soon?

3 – Selling Needs Tracking

Sales people don’t always effectively track their sales activities. However, there are some fairly simple metrics that can be utilized. At a high level, T. Scott Brumley recommends the following five ratios for tracking the effectiveness of a sales person or entire sales team:

Ratio 1: Total sales compensation/gross sales = direct selling costs (%)

Ratio 2: Gross sales/total hours worked by salespeople = sales dollars per hour

Ratio 3: Number of sales/number of full-time-equivalent salespeople = number of sales per salesperson

Ratio 4: Gross sales/number of full-time-equivalent salespeople = sales dollars per salesperson

Ratio 5: Gross sales/number of sales transactions = average sales dollars per transaction

In addition, at a more tactical level, utilize metrics such as:

Number of new connections made with targeted decision makers
Number of meetings and conversations held with targeted decision maker
Total number of contacts made with targeted decision makers (see sales statistics above)

Tracking can help you pinpoint the problem, analyze it, and take action. If these particular ratios are not applicable to your business, then I challenge you to identify which ones are. Whether or not you currently have a sales plan, the numbers you get from these measures might be used to develop sales quotas or targets.

4 – Selling Requires Management

Sales managers need to be hands-on and spend as much time with their sales people as possible. Regular “one on one” meetings are an effective way for both parties to monitor sales activities and targets. Sales guru Hal Becker recommends four areas to cover each and every week:

1. Go over the previous week’s sales and the sales person’s weekly goals. Look at the sales person’s calendar for the week that just ended to gage level of activity and results.

2. Plan the next week’s activity and short-term goals. Look at the sales person’s calendar for the coming week to see what they have scheduled.

3. Take a look at the sales person’s list of prospects. Match sales calls with prospects or orders to see what has closed, what is pending, and what new prospects have been added.

4. Ask the salesperson what areas he or she thinks need improvement.

The more knowledgeable sales managers are about progress towards sales goals, the better that priorities and activities can be adjusted to improve results.

5 – Selling Demands Consistency

Most sales people and sales managers are not consistent: they do not do the right things all the time. It’s been said that “Consistent persistence will win out over talent every time.” Don’t let paperwork, e-mails, budgets and all the “office stuff” keep you from doing your job! Sales requires discipline at prospecting, making calls, meeting with contacts, providing support, issuing proposals when necessary, relationship-building, and getting commitments for sales. Discipline must be used to perform these activities all the time, not just when sales are slumping. Have a plan that works for you and stick to it. Schedule time and put the appropriate activities on your calendar, and then execute on those actions to maintain forward momentum. Be proactive and constantly measure progress against your goals.

Sales can be relatively easy if we focus on what we want to learn about our prospects and how we can address their issues. Sales people often have their own way of doing things, but rarely is this done consistently. Follow the above recommendations to improve the health of your sales process and get better resu

DON’T Use Business Metrics…At Your Own Peril

Posted on December 22, 2010August 16, 2013 by admin

They say what you don’t know won’t hurt you, but nothing could be further from the truth when you run a small business. If you operate based on “gut instinct,” or you make assumptions on how your business is performing without knowing the facts, you can run into problems quickly. Fortunately, there is a simple solution. By monitoring a few key business metrics, you can quickly gain a handle on your business and start on the path to improving your profitability.

Business Metrics
Business metrics, or measurements of business activity, have long been seen as the exclusive tool of the pure number cruncher, the bookkeeper, and the statistician. That’s no longer the case. In today’s increasingly flooded marketplace, the mantra must be: “You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it.” By defining the metrics that are important to your business and monitoring them closely, you gain three key benefits:

– Focus. Defining the metrics that are most important to your business allows you to tune out everything that isn’t related to those key measurements. As a result, you’ll find that you and your business are much more efficient.

– Better Vision. Companies that monitor metrics can spot threats and opportunities faster than companies that don’t. Your metrics will give you keen insights into what’s happening within the four walls of your business as well as overall trends in your industry.

– Better Decisions. Metrics provide a framework for making business decisions. With the numbers in black and white, you can make well-reasoned decisions on how to proceed. If it improves your key metrics, consider it. If not, move on.

Implementing Metrics
Getting started with metrics is easier than you might think. Many small business owners don’t understand how simple it can be to collect and analyze these important numbers. A simple seven-step process gets you started.
1. Define Your Goals. Make a list of business goals. Goals might include sales objectives, target profit margins, or success at signing up new customers.
2. Define the Metrics. For each business goal on your list, write down a metric that will help you track your progress to success. For example, if your goal is signing up new customers, your metric might involve stating the number of meetings you will have per week with perspective customers.
3. Benchmark Current Status. Now that you established your metrics, you need to measure them. You must determine exactly how your business is doing, even if the truth is hard to swallow. By establishing the current value of each metric, you will be able to track your improvements in the future.
4. Put in Place a System to Monitor and Report Metrics. You may need to add new business processes that will help you calculate and report your metrics. For example, is the number of your customers who view your customer service as being “excellent,” then you may want to survey your customers every month and ask them how you are doing.
5. Communicate Metrics with Employees. Once you’ve defined the key metrics that are important to your business, be sure to let your staff know. Then, everyone can make decisions that help improve the metrics.
6. Review the Metrics and Make Decisions. With your metrics in place, you have greater insight into which strategies work and which don’t. Review the metrics and take steps to improve your results.
7. Promote Successes. When your metrics improve, let your staff know and reward everybody that helped make things better.

Effective use of business metrics can have a profound impact on your business. As you gain a better understanding of your business and move closer to achieving important goals, your day-to-day work will become easier and your staff will be more accountable to the metrics that matter. You’ll make better decisions, based on data, and you will have a powerful new tool for managing your business.

Satisfied Customers or Loyal Customers…Is There a Question?

Posted on December 9, 2010August 16, 2013 by admin

According to author, Jeffrey Gitomer…”Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless” –

Apparently companies like Costco understand the difference…They have been recognized as the leader in customer loyalty among warehouse retailers, rocketing from start-up to Fortune 50 status in less than 20 years, while spending next to nothing on advertising and marketing because of word of mouth referrals. They know that companies with the highest customer Loyalty typically grow at more than twice the rate of their competition. And, by Raising Customer retention rates by 5% it is possible to increase the value of an average customer by 25% to 100% (The Loyalty Effect, F. Reichheld, 2006). Rather than spending time trying to remember if you’ve ever seen a Costco advertisement, lets talk behavior and why emotions matter in the customer experience.

Regardless of how high a company’s satisfaction levels may appear, satisfying Customers without creating an emotional connection with them has no real value. This should be a red flag issue, especially when you consider that it’s reported that 90 to 96% of customers won’t complain. They simply walk away. Emotions Matter…because customers and staff are always emotional, and in service industries because it is so personal and stressful, the emotions are more intense. A healthy way to view emotions is not as a problem But as the basis for forming relationships – This is how we develop Loyalty!

As a coach and consultant who works with business organizations to help improve their performance. Our work often starts with a discussion about the vision of the company. If it’s written, you can usually find a statement about customers under glass on a conference room wall. It often goes something like this…” We believe Customer Satisfaction is our #1 Priority.” But when you ask people inside the organization what that statement really means and how it’s measured, the silence is often deafening. If the people in the organization don’t have a clear definition of what you mean by customer satisfaction, then how do they convey it to your customers?

I have come to the realization that “Customer Loyalty is all that matters,” especially when you define loyal customers as people who will do business with you again, tell others about you without hesitation, and refer people they care about to do business with you. Hugh McColl, referred to as the greatest banker of all time, founder of North Carolina National Bank, that ultimately became Bank of America had a simple philosophy: “I take care of my people, my people take care of my customers, my customers take care of my shareholders.” He never said, “I want to be the number one bank on the planet.” Loyalty is earned…it stems from actions that are taken and the words that are spoken by employees. It’s not just business as usual …

Do you have any horribly disappointing or pleasantly suprising customer service stories?

Using THIS Four-Letter Word Can Help You Get More Sales

Posted on November 23, 2010August 16, 2013 by admin

Do you remember the last time you went to a dealership to buy a car? Over the years, my experience never varies. I pull up at the dealership, and a sales person literally runs over to my car and tackles me before I can even get out of the front door. The sales person’s first question? You guessed it: “What would it take to have you drive home in this new car today?”

In sales, we call that type of question a “closing question.” Any good sales person (or any good attorney for that matter!) will tell you that you shouldn’t ask a closing question until you are sure that the answer will be “Yes!” And, to get to a “yes” answer to the question of whether your client wants to buy whatever you are selling, you need to first determine what that client needs and wants.

I once heard a statistic that less than 20% of all sales people actually take the time to ask questions of their prospects before asking for the sale – before asking that closing question. So, if you are in sales, keep reading. Today, we’ll share with you a simple formula for asking great questions that will put you in the 20% of sales people who take the time to understand their prospect’s needs and wants as a part of the sales process. That formula is a four-letter word: GRCO.

(OK, so it’s not really a word, but actually an acronym, but it’s a terrific mnemonic aide to help you remember this formula for asking questions.)

Let’s set the context for a typical sales call or meeting. You would first build some rapport and trust with your prospect. This might include a warm welcome, some opening questions about them or their business, good eye contact, and other such techniques to establish a productive relationship at the beginning of a sales engagement. Once you have established some trust, your next step is to ask the GRCO questions. Let’s take them one at a time:

G stands for “Goal” Questions. When talking with your client, start by asking them some questions about what matters most to them. What are they trying to accomplish? What are the important measures for the business this year? What will make them consider the year a success? What do they personally want to accomplish in X time? Goal questions allow your client to talk about their envisioned future, about what they really need and want, and allow you to laser-focus on what is most important to them.

R stands for “Rewards” Questions. Now that you know the goals, ask your prospect questions that tell you more about what is in it for them when they achieve those goals. Good questions to ask include, “What is the benefit of achieving that goal?” or “What will be different when you achieve X?” Rewards questions give you a sense of the value of the goals, which can often tell you a lot about how much the client may need your help to meet that goal.

C stands for “Consequences” Questions. These are the reverse of rewards questions. What will happen if X is not reached? If the client/business can’t achieve whatever the goal is, how will that impact the business? What is the downside of not achieving the goal? Many people say that most sales happen in order to avoid a problem, rather than in order to achieve a particular target. Understanding the consequences for your client is critical to your ability to then map your solution to their needs.

Last, O stands for “Obstacles” Questions. What would keep the client/business from achieving the goal? What is standing in the way of success? What challenges are they running into? These questions are very powerful tools in your sales arsenal, since they often point to problems that the client cannot overcome themselves. That’s why they need you! If you can identify internal challenges and obstacles, and whatever you are selling can help them get past those issues, then your ability to sell just got easier.

Armed with the answers to these important GRCO questions, you are now ready to show how your product or service is perfectly positioned to help the client achieve the goals, overcome the obstacles, achieve the rewards and avoid the consequences related to that goal. The next time you walk into a sales call, take a minute to write the acronym GRCO at the top of your note pad. If needed, draft some GRCO questions in advance so that you can use them with your prospect. Then methodically ask these four types of questions and let the client tell you exactly what they need to be successful. If your solution aligns to the GRCO answers, you are then ready to ask your closing question – and get a “Yes” response.

Good luck! Let me know how it works for you – I’m always interested in hearing about your experiences.

Who is Preventing You From Selling?

Posted on October 22, 2010August 16, 2013 by admin

How many times have you sat through a sales meeting or any meeting for that matter where you’ve heard someone make the suggestion: “We’ve got to think outside the box.” It’s a phrase that doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. In fact, it’s seems like the perfect phrase to capture the frustration we experience when our imagination feels trapped and our thoughts appear stuck to the soles of our shoes.

If we think of this metaphorical box as containing the walls that confine our thinking, then by understanding these barriers we open up the opportunity to break free and take control of our negative senses and use the power of our thoughts to develop new ideas and opportunities. In the Little Red Book of Selling, Jeffrey Gittomer outlined the 8.5 negative senses that the subconscious mind presents and projects when selling, which become the walls that paralyze our thinking:

The sense of fear.
The sense of nervousness.
The sense of rejection.
The sense of procrastination or reluctance.
The sense of justification/rationale.
The sense of self-doubt.
The sense of uncertainty.
The sense of doom.

8.5. The sense of “I’m unlucky.”

Understanding that our minds move us in the direction of our current dominant thoughts, we have the ability to penetrate these walls by focusing our attention to our positive thoughts and taking back control. When you begin to feel in control, you begin to radiate positive energy, which leads to (sales) success. According to Gittomer, adopting the following 6 positive sales senses is the way forward….

The sense of confidence….The air you have about you that’s bred by preparation and previous wins. The best part about confidence is that it’s contagious. You can give it to your prospect. (Don’t confuse confidence with its evil twin – arrogance.)
The sense of positive anticipation – Everyone has read the best book on the subject before the age of five. – The Little Engine That Could. I think I can, I think I can. Thinking you can is 50% of the outcome (So is thinking you can’t.)
The sense of determination – The sense of hanging in there no matter what. Determination is having the prospect tell you “no,” and you hear it as, “not yet.”
The sense of achievement – Everyone subconsciously strives for their goals. Sensing achievement comes from a replay of the satisfaction you gained from making your last sale. Remember how good it felt?
The sense of winning – Everyone wants to win, but only a few actually do. That’s because the will to prepare to win must exceed the will to win.
The sense of success – This is the hardest sense to master, because you must sense it before you actually achieve it. That calm feeling of money in the bank. An “I can do it” attitude. And a well-lit path in front of you. The sense of positive purpose.

Earl Nightingale, in his legendary tape, “The Strangest Secret,” says, “You become what you think about.” Truer words have never been spoken. But the secret to “The Strangest Secret,” is – It’s a dedicated self-discipline that must be practiced every day. How close to “every day” are you?

The most interesting aspect of “The Strangest Secret,” is that it contains the counter balance to turn all your destructive senses into constructive senses by employing the strongest sense of them all – common sense.

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Category: Sales/Business Development