Snakes, Scorpions, Gila Monsters and Objections: Handled Correctly None of These are Deadly

Living in the desert means living with some pretty nasty neighbors such as rattlesnakes and scorpions, and although they aren’t in my desert, not that far away is another desert resident, the Gila Monster.  All of these are venomous, and although rare for the scorpion and Gila Monster, under the right circumstances they can kill a human.  Fortunately, for us who live with these creatures there are specific actions we can take to prevent them from harming us and our families. 

Also present in my desert—and in your area, no matter what area you work in—are objections to our efforts to sell.  Like snakes, scorpions and Gila Monsters, objections are also venomous; but unlike the scorpion and Gila Monster whose bite is seldom lethal, objections are mass murders, killing tens of thousands–probably millions–of sales every single day.

Despite the fact that objections are deadly for such a massive number of sales, like the poisonous creatures above, objections need not be deadly if we simply learn how to prevent them from harming our sales.

A few lessons from how we handle poisonous creatures can be easily and successfully applied to handling objections:

1. Keep the objections away.  Our primary defense against our venomous neighbors is to anticipate the environment that would attract them and to then create an environment that would discourage their presence.  We keep our lawns mown and gardens weeded not just so our home looks good, but to prevent unwanted creatures from having a place to hide.  They hate being out in the open where they can be easily spotted and attacked by their enemies.

   We do the same with objections by creating an environment that discourages them.  We anticipate the typical objections we get and weave into our presentation the answer to the objection before it is asked.  Just as we whack down weeds before they become problem areas where a snake or Gila Monster can hide, we whack down objections before they have a chance to grow into an issue of real consequence.

2. Don’t let the objection linger.  Once we notice there is a problem—we spot a rattlesnake or a scorpion nest—we take immediate action.  We don’t let it stick around.  Our question is never “do we address it” but “how do we address it.”  Do we need to call in a professional or can we handle it ourselves?  Do we need to kill it or find a way to move it somewhere where it—and we—can live safely? 

   An objection demands we do the same—acknowledge its presence and take immediate action.  And just as we must decide how best to deal with our unwanted neighbor, we must decide how most effectively to handle the objection.  Do we answer it fully now or explain that we will address it later at a more appropriate time?  Whether we address it now or move it to a later time, we must let the prospect know we understand the objection and that we will in fact address it fully.  If we let it linger without acknowledging it, we may as well take its poison and inject it directly into our veins. 

3. Address the objection and probe for others.  When we find an unwanted visitor around our home, we not only have to eradicate it but we have to do a thorough search to make sure there aren’t any more around.  At times we may be tempted to reassure ourselves that the one scorpion was all there were and we don’t have to bother with a detailed search.  If we don’t make sure we got them all, we’re only setting ourselves up for a whole boatload of trouble a little later. 

   It’s the same with objections.  To bastardize Woody Allen in Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask, “these things usually travel in groups.” (ASIDE FOR MY YOUTH READERS (those under 50): the scene is a giant boob running amuck, squirting milk at everyone in its path. When Allen finally manages to trap it in a giant bra, he warns his companion to be careful because “these things usually travel in pairs.”)  Like the giant boob, objections seldom travel alone.  Probe to uncover and address objections because if you don’t, they’ll likely drown you when you least expect it.

4. Recognize objections for what they are.  Not all lizards or snakes are poisonous.  Just because it slithers or is cold blooded doesn’t mean it is lethal.  Some of the creatures that have some resemblance to a rattlesnake or Gila Monster are beneficial and welcome in our yards.  We have to be able to differentiate between those creatures that are harmful and those that are beneficial.

   The same goes for objections because not all objections are the same.  There are certainly legitimate objections, but there are also some objections that are designed to stall or just wrangle a lower price.  We must be able to determine which objections are real and which are designed to obstruct or stall.  Asking questions so that you really understand both the objection and the reason for the objection will guide you in determining whether the objection is real or designed to stall or obstruct.

5. Address objections honestly.  OK, OK, the analogy breaks down at this point.  We really don’t come clean with the rattlesnake that we’re about to kill it, nor do we have a heart to heart conversation with the scorpions, warning them that if they don’t move we’re going to spray their nest with poison; not because we’re heartless, but simply because we find them too similar to our children—lousy listeners, so what’s the use?

            When it comes to objections, however, we must deal with them openly, honestly, and fully.  For many of us the
            temptation is to try to hide or even deny the truth—whatever it takes to make a sale.  But doing so ultimately
           only creates an unhappy, unsatisfied client likely to tell a great many about our dishonest and unethical
           practices.

          As with all things in sales, honesty is the only real policy.  Yes, on occasion it may mean losing a sale.  But the
          lost sales will pale in comparison to loyalty and word of mouth gained by giving your clients what they seldom
         get—straightforward, honest guidance from a seller.

Objections don’t have to kill your sales, you just need to handle them way you’d handle any deadly critter—find ‘em and eradicate ‘em.  Better yet, make your presentation a place where objections can’t hide and grow.

Guest Article: “Four Things To Do When Clients Pressure You for Lower Fees,” by Mike Schultz

Four Things To Do When Clients Pressure You for Lower Fees
By Mike Schultz

“We are ‘firm’ on all fees and never discount.”
     ~ Respondent to the RainToday.com 2008 Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report

Ask a services firm leader at an industry conference, “Does your firm discount its fees?” and you’re likely to get a response that goes something like this, “We don’t discount.”

You’re then likely to hear that due to the demand for the firm’s services and the high level of its quality and service, the firm simply doesn’t need to discount.

One alternative answer might be, “Yes, we discount. If the client pressures us on price, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do to get the business.” While you might hear this, it’s unlikely you will. Nobody wants to position themselves as the firm that needs to drop fees to win clients. And if a firm does discount, they sure don’t want it public.

While firms might do it quietly, they do, indeed, discount. In the 2008 Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report, 1,811 respondents from five major professional service industries reported heavy discounting.

What percentage of firms reported that they discount their fees, you ask?

• 76% of law firms
• 66% of architecture and engineering firms
• 65% of consulting firms
• 61% of accounting and financial services consulting firms
• 58% of marketing, advertising, and PR firms

As much as firm leaders would like to avoid it, and as much as the consultants to services firms rail against it, firms discount. And discounting is likely to continue.

The question then becomes, what do you do when clients push back on your fees?

The glib answer is: focus on your value. It’s trite, but true. If it’s worth it to the client they’ll pay for it. But when faced with price pushback, many are at a loss for what to do at that moment.

Here are four guidelines to follow the next time a client puts the price pressure on:

1  Don’t backtrack: I was playing golf with a bunch of old friends last summer. One of these gents is an attorney who was speaking about his services with another old friend who runs a hedge fund. Without being asked, he got to price and said, “My fees are $300 per hour, but if you need me to, I’ll work for less.”

Here’s an example of backtracking before even getting pushback. (I’d hate to see him in court, “Members of the jury, he’s innocent! Unless, well, you don’t think so. OK, we’ll plea bargain with opposing counsel…”)

Folks are tempted to backtrack when the buyer says, “But I can get it from XYZ provider at a lower price.” At this point, many service providers give the indication that they’re willing to negotiate prices.

Instead, acknowledge that other sellers’ prices are, indeed, all over the map and leave it there – you’re basically saying, “I acknowledge other providers’ prices are lower than mine, but my fee is my fee.”

Sometimes buyers might walk – that’s a risk you take. Many times, however, you’ll simply set the foundation for continuing the business development process at your preferred fee level.

2  Don’t start talking cost structure: Imagine, for example, your firm is looking to win a $7k retainer. Some clients will ask, “Well, how did you come up with that price?”

The service provider then pulls out a scope sheet of how this person’s rate is X, this person’s rate is Y, and this cost that we have to pay every month is Z, so here’s the fee. Heading down this path is a slippery slope and leads to nickel and diming here, there, and everywhere.

In Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008, RainToday.com and the Wellesley Hills Group found that firms of various price and profit levels use retainer pricing. However, those firms that achieve premium prices and profit levels do not share the underlying fee structure nearly as often as the other firms.

Think of it like this: If you went to buy a car and asked what the exhaust system cost or how much the dashboard set them back, you would probably get laughed at. In the same vein, you should not lift up the hood simply because you’re asked what your costs are.

3  Ask, “Which part don’t you want?”: Service providers are tempted to cut fees when they get pushback, especially for large deals. The logic goes like this, “Well, it’s a $120k deal, but if we get it, we can get by with $110k and be OK. That would be better than losing the whole thing.” So they cut their fees.

This is a bad precedent to set if repeat business is important at your firm. You’ll always play the price-cut game at contract renewal time.

Instead, when a client is considering a $120k deal comprised of 5 major components, ask them which component they don’t want? You might find yourself going component by component and, as the client realizes they want the whole thing, you don’t cut your fee.

Also, going component by component forces the client to consider what it would take them to do that particular component of the work (if they could even do it). All of a sudden they realize how much they’d prefer to pay you to get it done.

4  Don’t dismiss the buyer when they push back: I often hear this comment, “If they push back on price, we don’t want them! Pushing back on price is an indicator that a client will be high maintenance or worse down the road.”

Perhaps this is not the case. Buyers are often taught to challenge prices in multiple ways. Just because they challenge you doesn’t mean they are bad people or are destined to be bad clients. It also doesn’t mean they’re challenging your value personally. (I’ve seen many service providers react viscerally and personally to fee pressure. Bad form.)

It often means they’re trying to figure out how to engage you and your services. Some providers discount, others don’t. They’re just asking. Hold your ground and treat them reasonably in the process, and oftentimes they’ll just come around.

Clients will, in the end, pay more for your services if they see you offer more value than the alternatives. And as much as you might disdain the thoughts, buyers will continue to pressure price, and service providers will continue to discount to win business. Follow these guidelines when you get price pressure, and you’ll find yourself winning more deals at your asking price.

Mike Schultz is Principal and Founder of the Wellesley Hills Group, a management consulting and training firm focused on helping companies in the services sector to increase their revenue and profit. WHG specializes in both marketing and selling of services and offers a full suite of capabilities including sales training for consultants and professionals, marketing strategy development, and marketing implementation.  Visit his website

Is This How You “Discipline” Your Sales Team?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on why sales meetings are a waste of time.  My complaint about most sales meeting is they waste the sales team’s time because most managers don’t really have a good reason for holding the meeting and even when they do, so few managers thoroughly prepare for the meeting so that it runs smoothly, have value for the attendees, and everyone gets out quickly.

I received many emails and calls from readers saying how much they appreciated the post—but I also received several letting me know that I really had no clue what to use sales meetings for.  Here is one sample:

“I agree with much of what you say but I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I was with your article about sales meetings.  I don’t know of anyone in my company that would even begin to consider canceling a meeting just because we didn’t have time to prepare or because according to you we didn’t have a good reason to hold the meeting. 

First, our meetings are for more than just relaying company information or doing some light training.  We use them to help discipline our salespeople. 

We hold meetings every Monday and Friday morning at 8AM sharp and everyone must be in the meeting room on time or they get fined.  They show up on time, they pay attention, and they come prepared.  If they are late, if they are not prepared, or if they’re caught not paying attention, they’re fined. 

I can assure you that our sales team knows what’s expected and the consequences. 

Maybe you haven’t tried using it, but sales meetings are an excellent tool for instilling discipline in the troops, and discipline is critical in sales.  And they are here at the company’s pleasure; the company isn’t here at theirs.”

I might have thought this email was something of a joke, except I received a couple of more in a similar vein.  And before you guess that the manager who sent the email works in some high pressure, one-time close sweat shop, he doesn’t.  He is a manager for a mid-sized firm that sells a fairly sophisticated service to businesses in the healthcare industry.

Sales meetings as a discipline tool? 

Now, I’m not naïve; I know sales meetings are used by many managers as a tool to ensure salespeople show up on time and to try to keep them in line.  But the idea that there are people who believe it actually works is amazing to me, although I guess I really shouldn’t be   

The last line in the portion of the email I cited above is the key to understanding the management philosophy that would see sales meetings as a disciplinary tool—salespeople should be grateful the manger is gracious enough to let them come in and toil for the company.  Salespeople aren’t human beings, they are things, just as the copier is a thing, to be used to produce an end result and if they don’t, they’re tossed in the trash, just as the copier would be if it failed to live up to expectations. 

Is this a sales force problem or a management problem?

If the problem really is the salespeople (which I sincerely doubt), the root problem is that the company is hiring the wrong people.  If you have to drag people in the office twice a week to insure they get to work on time, if you have to fine your salespeople to get them to pay attention during a meeting, if you feel compelled to micro-manage your team members, there is a chance you have hired the wrong people.

Chances are great, however, that the root problem isn’t with your team members but with you and the management philosophy of the company.  Micro-management is a management disease, not a salesperson issue. 

More to the point, managers who feel the need to discipline, who view salespeople as cogs in their sales machine, who must resort to fear and intimidation certainly aren’t sales leaders, but they aren’t managers either.  They are little despots who rule with an iron hand and who will likely face a general uprising within the ranks at some point.  Like any good despot, he or she will try force to put down the uprising and if that doesn’t work, resort to bribes and milk and honey.  With luck, they’ll put down the insurrection but will have learned nothing from the experience—other than they were just too soft, too nice, too accommodating.  The iron fist comes down even harder.

Sales leaders lead by example and by empowering their sales team members to excel, to thrive, to reach their goals.  They know and trust their team members, just as their team members trust them.  Discipline, fines, and cogs in the machine aren’t part of the sales leader’s world.

Sales meetings can be important not just for what they can do to help build and strengthen your sales team but what they can tell you about yourself as a manager.

What is the purpose of your sales meetings?  If you’re using them to insure your team members show up; if you’re having to threaten and fine because they don’t pay attention or come unprepared; if feel compelled to micro-manage, you need to examine not your team members but yourself because the deficiency is probably with you, not them.

Guest Article: “The Power of Partnering,” by Kelley Robertson

The Power of Partnering
by Kelley Robertson

“Get the sale at any cost.”
“Make more calls.”
“Tell them what they want to hear.”

Sales professionals in virtually every industry are under tremendous pressure to close sales. It is not uncommon for them to hear comments similar to ones above from their sales manager, supervisor, or boss. But this approach does not create trust with customers and does not encourage repeat business or a lasting relationship.

A more effective approach is to develop a partnering relationship with your clients. This means working with them to help them achieve their goals and objectives. Simple in theory, this strategy requires a completely different approach. Here’s what I mean.

In the majority of sales meetings, the sales person looks for ways to position his or her product/service so that the prospect will buy it. However, a partnering approach means putting your goals and objective aside. It means focusing 100% of your attention on your customer. It requires a self-less mindset because there are situations when the best solution is not yours. In fact, it may mean telling your customer to contact a competitor. I experienced this just a few days before writing this article. A subscriber to my ezine contacted me about delivering a particular service. Although I may have been able to help her, I knew someone who could better meet her requirements. It was mentally difficult, but I made the decision to refer her to my competition.

Partnering also means that you provide exceptional follow-up to ensure that your customer is completely satisfied with their purchase. This does not mean you make just the obligatory follow-up call. It means you explore their actual use of your product and/or service and help them maximize its full potential.

A client of mine was experiencing less than favorable results after implementing a new program into their business. We scheduled a follow-up meeting with the management team, because as the vendor, I knew that the answers lay in the execution of the program. During the meeting we explored several ways to improve their results and one of the solutions required me to provide additional follow-up. Although I could have charged this client for my time, I knew that it made good business sense to absorb the cost of this follow-up because my primary objective was to help my client achieve the best results possible. Subsequent meetings indicated that this investment was worth it as my client began discussing how we could take this initiative to the next level.

The challenge with this concept is that most sales people want some form of instant gratification. But this approach does not offer a direct or immediate payoff for the sales person. However, from a business perspective, it makes good sense.

It is also important to note that you don’t necessarily have to give away this additional service. A few sales trainers I know (including myself) incorporate telephone coaching into their proposals. They charge for this service but they position it as a way for the company to improve their results. They demonstrate how this additional investment will drive more dollars to their clients’ bottom line. Ultimately, your goal should be helping your customers and clients improve their business results. Here are a few points to consider.

1. Focus on their goals and objective instead of your personal agenda (closing the sale). If necessary, recommend another supplier or vendor who offers the exact product/service your client needs.

2. Follow-up. Contact your customer and talk to them after they have made their purchase. Ask them if they are getting the desired results. If they aren’t, look for ways to help them maximize their results. Offer additional support. Give them extra resources. Help them get the best results possible.

3. Incorporate a systemized process into your sales pitch or proposals. People will pay for extras providing they see that value that is brought to their organization.

4. Send information to your customers on a regular basis without being asked. I like to send articles that are relevant to my clients on a regular basis. This demonstrates that I am looking out for their interests, rather than my own. I prefer to send articles written by other people, not just the ones I write.

Zig Ziglar once stated, “You can get anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.” When you help your customers achieve their goals and objectives you become more than a supplier or vendor. You become a preferred partner. And this will prevent your competition from overtaking you in the marketplace.

Create a checklist of the additional services you can offer to your clients to help them achieve their goals. Helping your customers reach their objectives will help you increase your profits.

One word of caution…this is a process, not a quick fix. This strategy does take time to generate a return.

However, it is well worth the investment.

Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, is a professional speaker and trainer on sales, negotiating, and employee motivation. He is also the author of “Stop, Ask & Listen – Proven Sales Techniques to Turn Browsers into Buyers.” For information on his programs, visit his website

Book Review: The Zero-Turnover Sales Force, by Doug McLeod

If you are looking for a purely objective review of The Zero-Turnover Sales Force: How to Maximize Revenue by Keeping Your Sales Team Intact
by Doug McLeod (AMACOM: 2010), this probably isn’t the review for you.  Seldom does one read a book and think “wow, I could have written this” because the author’s train of thought is so close to your own.  Well, Doug McLeod is apparently my long-lost identical twin.

The Zero-Turnover Sales Force doesn’t promise zero-turnover, of course, but it lays out a strategy to radically decrease turnover in the sales force to the point that it may be effectively zero-turnover. 

How does one go from a 20, 30, 40% or more turnover rate to almost none?  And what is turnover costing you? Eliminating turnover isn’t easy, says McLeod, but it can be done IF sales management and the CEO both buy into the appropriate actions that will eliminate the primary reasons salespeople leave.  And with a simple exercise he demonstrates just how much turnover is costing you and taking away from your bottom-line.

McLeod first addresses the underlying question: why salespeople leave.  He argues it isn’t money; it isn’t a lack of advancement opportunity; it isn’t a quest for change.  It’s—well, the way McLeod puts it is “they don’t quit the job, they quit YOU.”  Salespeople quit because management isn’t giving them what they need.  In other words, turnover isn’t salesperson induced, it’s management induced.

Not exactly what most of us managers want to hear.

The issue starts, according to McLeod, during the hiring process.  Management doesn’t probe to discover what the prospective seller is really looking for in a company or a sales position.  McLeod says we have to ask questions and keep asking until we have at least some idea of what the potential employee is looking for—and if we can meet their expectations.  It’s those unfulfilled expectations that ultimately lead to turnover.

Equally necessary and as likely not to happen is probing to find out why our salespeople leave us.  Seldom does a manager ask a seller who resigns why they’re leaving.  The why they leave is just as important as the why they start.

McLeod discusses what he calls “The 12 Assassins of Sales Force Stability” which are:

Weak Recruiting
Straight Commission
Cold Calling
Unfocused Training
Sales Meetings
Fuzzy Goals and Unrealistic Expectations
Inattention to Top Sellers
Hesitation and Impatience with Young Salespeople
Disorganized Ride-Alongs
Unrest in the Trenches
Time as an Enemy
A Website That Doesn’t Sell

I’m sure that you’ll agree with some factors on the list, maybe question others, and adamantly disagree with still others.  However, before taking exception to any of the factors McLeod identifies, I’d encourage you to grab a copy of The Zero-Turnover Sales Force and listen to his arguments because he lays out a case that can be well argued and defended.  Most of us, however, will have experienced for ourselves the deadly impact of many, if not all, of these issues on salespeople.

And McLeod’s solutions?

The solutions to most of the issues are contained within the issue themselves.  Unfocused training demands an analysis of the training the manager and company provide and revamping it to make sure it is both focused on real needs and is consistent with sales process of the company.  Disorganized ride-alongs require the manager carefully plan each ride-along and utilize the time wisely.  Cold calling demands that the company find more effective and productive ways for the sales team to find and connect with quality prospects.

With each issue McLeod identifies the solution—change training from unfocused to focused—and gives specific action steps to take to make sure you’ve not only eliminated the problem but have turned it into a company positive.

You’ll never reach zero-turnover.  But you can radically reduce your turnover by recognizing where the real turnover issue lies—with the management team—and constructively and positively addressing and eliminating the management created issues.  McLeod shows you how to get on track to putting a ton of money back on your bottom-line.

The Zero-Turnover Sales Force: How to Maximize Revenue by Keeping Your Sales Team Intact

Guest Article: “10 Proven Tips to Land the Sales Job You Really Want,” by Dave Stein

I’ve resurrected this older post by my friend Dave Stein because although written in 2007, it is just as timely today.  Yes, it is as long as a condensed version of War and Peace, but well worth the read–and even more worth implementing Dave’s sage advice.

10 Proven Tips to Land the Sales Job You Really Want
By Dave Stein

I see the job situation gradually improving. Companies are hiring, because executives in many industries are optimistic. They are also more willing than ever before to let go of underperformers and look for better talent. At the same time, sales professionals are moving around more than ever before, changing jobs, looking for a better career opportunities and greater earning potential.

There is good news and bad news. The good news is that good salespeople are landing better jobs than they had–jobs with higher pay potential and with the promise of career advancement based on achievement of performance goals. Direct sales is a good place to be right now. Why? It pays very well and, as far as I can see, direct selling jobs can’t be outsourced overseas.

There is bad news for many who are seeking out a new job in sales. Just as buyers have gotten better at buying, many managers and executives have gotten considerably better at hiring. Having been through the experience and cost of hiring the wrong people, possessing a higher degree of accountability and putting more focus on effectiveness and productivity, they are more determined to do it right.

I spend a fair amount of time assisting companies hire the right sales people. We don’t accomplish that by chance or through gut feel. We depend on a hiring process I’ve developed which includes, among other components, comprehensive job profiles, probing interview questions, and the formal training of a hiring team. I become part of the hiring team, performing many interviews with candidates for sales jobs–at the rep, support, management, and executive levels.

From my perspective as a hiring coach, influencer and recommender, here are 10 critical success factors for getting yourself hired:

Have a plan

There are a good deal of similarities between seeking a new job and running a sales campaign. (When seeking a job, you’ll be doing a fair amount more buying than you do in your sales job, but you’ll still be doing a considerably amount of selling.) So, in keeping with my recommended format for a sales plan, the following should be the format of your plan to get the job:

* Situation assessment. Ask yourself these questions: What are your skills, your experience, and your past performance against quota? What industries (or companies) are hiring? What are the hirer’s expectations (perhaps a “golden” Rolodex)? What compensation level is realistic to expect? What are your decision criteria? What are theirs? Are they employing a hiring process? If so, what are the steps? You will also need to assess your prospective employer’s industry and company, just as you would a prospect.

* Objective: To be offered three positions on or about a specified date at a specified OTE (on-target earning) potential.

* Strategy: What are you going to count upon to compel that executive to offer you the job you want for the pay you deserve?

* Tactics: How are you going to manage it all? The interviews, differentiating yourself, timing, your current job, negotiations, reference checking, your due diligence, responses to the most common objections?

This same planning model is equally as applicable, on a smaller scale, to a single interview or other meeting with your targeted employer. Your ability to have an impact on the outcome of that interview is directly proportional to the amount of time you spend planning and preparing for the event.

Specify what role you are seeking.

One of the mistakes candidates make is in not being specific enough about what job they are interested in. I’ve seen job objectives at the top of candidate’s resumes where I couldn’t discern whether the candidate was interested in a job selling, in business development, sales management, or channel management. The shotgun approach doesn’t work. Hirers don’t want to compromise, and they don’t want generalists. The days of hiring a person and then finding the right place for them are over. Executives want the right candidate for a specific job. If you’ve got broad experience in a number of different areas, position that as added value which will make you even more qualified for the job for which you are applying.

One of my clients is currently looking for a very experienced sales rep. They do not need someone who is interested in a management position. Many of the candidates who want to be considered have sales management experience and it isn’t clear from their resumes whether they want a sales rep or sales manager position. My client doesn’t want to hire someone who isn’t 100% focused on selling. They don’t want someone who is just selling in order to “qualify” for a sales management job. So if a candidate doesn’t specify that they just want to sell, we are passing them by.

Clean up your resume

Don’t lie on your resume. In my experience more than 60% of resumes of sales people do not accurately represent the facts about the candidate. That includes inflated titles, incorrect dates meant to cover gaps in employment, team accomplishments attributed solely to the candidate, etc. Lying or misrepresentation on a resume is immediate cause for rejection.

What do you do if there is a period during which you were between jobs? Explain it. Why did it happen? What did you learn from it? What will the benefit be for your next employer? It’s your job as a salesperson to effectively position yourself. Get to work cleaning up your resume and polishing your story. Leave no inconsistencies, holes, or doubts as to what you really accomplished, however big or small. Recruit a friend or associate to mentor you through the process.

A colleague and friend just started in a terrific new job as VP of an $80 million division. The job was definitely a reach, since he had never managed a business unit that large. He worked hard on effectively positioning the truth. Yes, he had not done this before, but he was more than ready for the challenge. In fact, this was the right time in his career for a move exactly like this. He was able to succinctly and compellingly discuss the advantages of hiring him over someone who might have appeared to be better qualified on paper. What might have been a disqualifier for someone else was turned into a reason for hiring him.

When I see the resume of a sales person or executive and there are no performance statistics, I am skeptical. Although smart executives know that the past doesn’t equal the future, they do know that a resume without performance stats probably means that salesperson doesn’t have a record of which they are proud. If you misrepresent how much you’ve sold and your prospective employer asks for your W-2s (earning and tax statements) for the past 5 years, you’re toast.

One more point about resumes. Presentation counts. Please, no typos, nothing fancy, no downloadable graphics, not too long, nothing irrelevant, and take the time to customize the resume for the job for which you are applying. I’m not saying that presentation counts more than past performance. I’m just saying it’s representative of you.

Learn about the company with whom you will be interviewing

Winners would never think of making a sales call on a decision maker without having learned about that person’s company, their industry, and the person themselves. This is a practice that should be applied in a job seeking situation. Even if you are being pursued, if it’s worth an hour of your time to talk to someone from that company, it’s worth some more time to do a bit of research on that company, their industry, and the person or people with whom you will be speaking. This knowledge you gain will help you in other ways. You really don’t want to go work for the wrong company. So you’ve got to perform your due diligence. Dig into their history, management team, financial viability, culture, products and services, alliances, attrition (or lack thereof) of their sales staff, marketing capabilities, reputation in their industry, etc. Obviously, some of this can wait for the second interview. You don’t want to have to be explaining to your next potential employer why you made an uninformed decision going with a company that went belly-up shortly after you joined.

Timing

When I coach sales reps (and VPs of sales for that matter) who are seeking a new job, I tell them that one of their biggest challenges is going to be in doing their best to time their job offers so the most desirable ones all come in at the same time. That way the candidate can compare and contrast them according to their decision criteria, selecting the best one at that time. The alternative is to have an offer come in when you are in the midst of the interviewing cycle with what appears to be a more exciting opportunity. If you take job #1 without fully exploring job #2, you may be missing out on what could be a better opportunity. If you stall job #1, they may hire someone else and then you are left with job #2, which may not be as good as job #1 appeared to be. Something to think about in advance.

Another aspect of timing is to begin looking for a job while you still have your current one. When it comes to hiring sales people, you are inherently more marketable if you are currently employed.

An ethical question comes into play here. Is it right to interview for another job when you are on your current employer’s payroll? For some, the answer to that question is that they got their current job while on their previous employer’s payroll, so it all works out. For others, making up any time spent on job searching is the answer. They work extra hours on the weekends, for example. Other people don’t worry about such things. They suggest it’s a cost of doing business for their employer. Ultimately that decision is yours, but I recommend making up any time spent on job searching.

Practice

I got some terrific advice many years ago when I was looking for a sales job: make certain your first interviews aren’t for your most promising opportunities. Interviewing, like any other skill, requires practice. If you haven’t interviewed for a while, take interviews with some companies that you don’t really believe you want to work for or wouldn’t likely hire you. You want to be as polished, confident, and comfortable as possible when the ideal interview comes along.

References

My clients understand the value of rigorous reference checks. You can ruin your chances of landing a job, not to mention your reputation and your relationship with a recruiter if a reference disputes claims you made on your resume or during the interview process. And don’t think that potential employers will only call the names you’ve provided. The savvy ones have contacts in the industry and may perform blind reference checking on you, as I often do.

Hirers also know that you are only going to list names of people who will provide a positive recommendation. Please don’t think that experienced executives are going to call one of those people, smile, and feel that they have all they need. That’s happening less and less.

Who is selling and who is buying?

The answer to this question is, “it depends”. There is almost always a degree of balance between hirer and candidate and buying and selling. Digging in a bit further: If you are relatively inexperienced or have a less than stellar resume, you may be selling a lot more than buying, at least early in the interview cycle. If you can really convince the hirer that you are right for the job, you can transition to a bit more of a selling mode. On the other hand, if you’ve been taking home $500k a year and are being recruited into a hot start-up you’re definitely starting out as a buyer. That could come to an abrupt halt when the recruiter tells you that there are two other candidates involved, each of whom made $750k. Now, if that job is as attractive as can be, you’re like to move into selling mode. Decide which mode you should be in at any given time and be effective in that role.

Position your negatives

Last year I rejected a VP of sales candidate for a client because the candidate couldn’t admit that he had any weaknesses (which when you think about it is a weakness in itself).

Positioning a strength as a weakness doesn’t really work either. “One of my weaknesses is that I am too determined when it comes to winning business…” Statements like that provoke some interviewers into thinking, “What do you think, I’m stupid?”

Everyone has weaknesses. Spend some time determining in advance what yours are and what you are hopefully doing to improve yourself in those areas. If that’s the case, try something more like this. “You can tell by my track record that I’ve been a consistent performer. But I am always looking to improve. Right now I am focusing on improving my ability to read and interpret financial statements. I know that this will enable me to be even more credible in front of C-level executives.”

Add value at every turn

I love interviewing candidates for sales positions where the candidate has done their homework and tells me something that I don’t know and that I believe my client doesn’t know either. I react in the same way your prospects react when you do that to them. I see value, the candidate has differentiated themselves, and I am interested in hearing more.

During an interview for a sales job for one of my clients, the candidate provided observations and very specific recommendations regarding how my client was positioning their offering in their market. He suggested that a lot of what he saw was good, but certain points could be made much more effectively, which, he added would help him and the other salespeople to sell more effectively. His comments made sense. I noted them in my debriefing document, which was sent to the VP of sales and other key executives. Having done this certainly contributed to that candidate getting hired.

If you are looking for a sales position and are winging it, consider adopting these recommendations above. They could make a world of difference in your career and your bank account.

Dave Stein is President of ES Research Group, the only independent source of intelligence and advice on sales effectiveness, sales productivity, offering technologies and tools, as well as comprehensive information on different sales training companies.  After an early career as a professional trumpeter, Dave held many diversified technical, sales and executive positions: programmer, systems engineer, sales representative, sales manager, director of worldwide sales development, VP of sales, VP of international operations, VP of client services and VP of strategic alliances.  Dave is quoted and recognized in leading business magazines and websites, including Fast Company, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Inc., Fortune, and Forbes. He writes the featured monthly column for Sales & Marketing Management magazine.  Visit his website

Find Out Who You Know That Can Get You Introduced to Your Prospect: PeopleMap.com

My friend Nancy Nardin of SmartSellingTools.com gave me a heads-up on a very interesting new service called People Maps.  You can get Nancy’s take on PeopleMaps here.

I’ll let Nancy’s post talk about how the technology works, I’ll stick to what it does—and what my quick 15 minutes of use has indicated of its value.

PeopleMaps takes your contact database—auto download from LinkedIn, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook, and/or Facebook, or you can upload your contacts by hand—and then when you enter an individual or company you are interested in connecting with, the program takes your contacts, compares them with all the other contacts in the entire PeopleMap database and figures the 10 best routes for you to get introduced to the individual or company you want to be introduced to.

Sounds pretty nifty huh?

Well, I wanted to see how it works.

To date I’ve only loaded my LinkedIn and Facebook contacts, so my searches were conducted with some limitations on my total universe of connections, but I wanted to see what would happen with a small universe of only about 200 connections.  Even with such a limited number of personal connections, I found the program gave me quick paths to almost anyone or any company I entered.

Let’s start off with the absurd:

Barack Obama:  I’m two connections away from the President although my 2^nd connection (I would have to be introduced to them through my primary connection, that is, the person I know) has only a weak connection to Obama.  The system ranks connection strength from a low of 1 to a high of 10.  My 2^nd connection’s connection rank to Obama is only a 3.  Is the Barack Obama in the PeopleMap system President Obama?  I don’t know since it didn’t identify him in any political position.

George Bush:  Since I live in Midland, Texas which is the town where George Bush grew up and spent most of his early career, I figured I had to see what would happen with a connection search for Bush.  Bush isn’t in the PeopleMap system indicating he isn’t in the public databases of any PeopleMap users.

Let’s get down to business:

I sought to find out how close I was to numerous executives in companies such as Ford, Johnson and Johnson, Goldman Sachs, and Georgia Pacific, as well as local west Texas companies and regional Southwest companies. 

In all I ran people maps on 25 possible connections.  Almost all of my connection paths were from one to three people, only two inquiries required me to go four people deep.  Almost all of my final connections had at least a 7 and most a 9 rating in terms of their strength of connection to my desired prospect. 

All of the connections after my initial connection and prior to the desired contact were rated anywhere from a 5 to a 9.  One of the nice features of the PeopleMap is it give up to `10 connection paths so you can find the path you believe will be the strongest to your prospect.  If one path peters out before you get to your prospect, you can try a different path.

I’ve not tried to connect with any prospects using PeopleMap yet.  But just having a map from who I know to who knows who I want to know is a tremendous benefit.  I now know how to get from where I am to where I want to be, and if my first connection is someone I have a strong relationship with, I have great potential to get where I want to go.

PeopleMap offers two levels—free which is very basic but is the one I’ve been playing with, and a paid at $49 per month which gives considerable more information.  I’d advise using the free service until you determine the additional benefits of the paid service are necessary for your needs.

Hallelujah, Amazon Finally Did It

My book Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals has been out since October of ’06 and has been solidly in the top 100 bestselling books in the Sales & Selling Techniques category every year since—and is again so far this year.  However, Amazon has maintained a price on the book far above their pricing on other referral subject books.

I don’t know whether the price of my book being about 33% higher than competitive referral books has had a negative impact on sales but I suspect it has.

But finally, as of today the book is selling for $13.57, an almost four and a half dollar discount from what it has sold for in the past and putting it within a couple of dollars of its subject competitors.

So, if you’ve thought about buying the book but didn’t like the fact you couldn’t get much of a discount off the $19.95 cover price, head on over to Amazon and pick up a copy.

If you prefer the book in Kindle format, you can get it for $9.99 here.

Or if you prefer the audio book version, you can get it here for only $13.10 or $7.49 if you sign up for a new Audible.com account.

What, you don’t know whether or not you want the book?  No problem.  Head over here and read numerous reviews and opinions about the book from folks such as Dave Stein, Charles Green, AllBooks Reveiws, Dave Lakhani, Frank Rumbauskas, Get Abstract, ChangingMinds.com, and many more.

Are You Hearing Without Listening?

Oh, our wicked ways! 

A reading of much of the Old Testament sounds like a modern day sales meeting—a great deal of hearing, very little listening of what is being said. 

When we read those passages where the Israelites hear the words being spoken but understand nothing because they don’t really listen, we self-righteously tend to think “oh, those evil Israelites, they deserve all the wrath that descends upon them.”   And in reality, they do.

But listen in on many of our sales calls and the only conclusion we can come to is “oh, that wicked salesperson, they deserve all the failure that descends upon them,” for we salespeople tend to be just as guilty of hearing without listening as the Israelites 2,500 years earlier.

Just as the wages of sin is death, the wages of not listening to our prospect is the equivalent of death in sales—no sale.

The problem is most of the time we aren’t even aware that we’re not listening because it is just plain human nature to hear what we want to hear and to be thinking about what we want to say instead of what our prospect is saying. 

No, I don’t think listening is the natural human state.  Talking is.  Probably more correctly is talking without thinking is the natural human state.

In terms of hearing, what is natural is to be thinking of our rebuttal while the other is takling and to be listening for the words we want to hear and to skip over the ones we don’t. 

Listening, really listening to what is being said rather than what we want to hear, is something we have to learn to do. 

We have to force ourselves to concentrate on the words being said by our prospect which means consciously NOT thinking about our next statement.

We have to force ourselves to listen to the meaning of our prospect instead of reading into their statement what we want to hear.

Let me give a couple of recent examples from a couple of my coaching clients.  Names have been changed but the words are real:

“Paul, I’ve got a great referral coming from one of my new clients,” said Richard.  “He said he’d talk to his business partner and see if he could set up a lunch meeting with the three of us.”

A few days later I got this email reply when I asked if he had spoken with his new client about the referral lunch: “He said he hadn’t spoken to him yet and probably wouldn’t anytime soon since his partner is in the process of getting a divorce and is in a surly mood and pre-occupied most of the time.”

That’s not what I was expecting.  I asked Richard what led him to believe his client would be setting up a lunch meeting.  He said he had recorded his session with the client as he often does and would play the referral meeting request section for me if I wanted. 

I wanted.

Here’s what his client actually said: “Well, I’ll see if I can set up a lunch with Don.  I’m not sure now is really the right time since he’s got some really serious personal issues he’s dealing with, but I’ll see if maybe there might be a good time to ask in the next few days.  If now isn’t good, can we wait until he has worked through the issues that are occupying him right now?”

My client heard “I can set up a lunch meeting with Don.”  The rest, to Richard, was just filler.  He heard the words he wanted to hear.

What I heard most loudly was “If now isn’t good, can we wait until he has worked through the issues that are occupying him right now?”  The client wanted to help Richard but was obviously uncomfortable asking Don for the meeting at this time and was asking permission from Richard to wait for a better time but Richard didn’t hear the request because it wasn’t what he wanted to hear, consequently he was disappointed and a bit upset when the referral lunch didn’t happen.

Another example happened last week when I was doing a web meeting “ride along” while one of my clients was doing a web based presentation to a prospect.  I was a silent attendee of the presentation, in the background as an observer only.

My client, Henri, was sailing along with the presentation when the prospect said “I really like this.  I need to get you set up to do this for Grace Turner; she’s the one I’m using to compare the various systems and will make the final recommendation.”

Henri, in a stunned voice, said “I’m sorry, Bill, I understood you to say that you were the decision maker on this.”

“I am,” he replied, “but Grace is the primary evaluator of the systems.  She is the one who is comparing each of the systems, so will be the one making the final recommendation and I seriously doubt I’ll not take her recommendation.  I thought you understood that last week when we set up this meeting and I said I’d see if Grace could sit in on the presentation also.”

“I’m sorry, Bill, I guess I should have asked what role Grace would be playing in the process.”

Henri heard what she wanted to hear—Bill was the decision maker and therefore she ignored anything and everything else.  In her mind she had THE MAN.  And she did in terms of who would authorize the purchase.  But she failed to listen when he indicated there was someone else involved in the decision process.  Henri believed that since he was authorizing the purchase, he was the only person she needed to influence.

Ouch.  Both of these situations were easily avoided with just a bit of careful listening.

So if not listening is our natural state and we have to force ourselves to listen, how do we do that?

Concentrate on the Prospect:  Hard to do, at least at first, but the single most effective thing you can do is to consciously concentrate on each word your prospect says. 

Focus on Context and Agreement:  While listening to your prospect, consciously focus on what your prospect is saying in the context of the overall discussion.  Are there hidden meanings?  Is the prospect giving a subtle message between the lines (i.e., “please give me permission to wait to ask Don for the lunch meeting”)?  Also, do the words your prospect is saying match their body language?  Concentrating on what they are saying in context and examining to make sure words and body language are in agreement force you to really concentrate on what is being said.

Pause Before Talking:  When we’re anxious to get our point across we tend to interrupt and break into our prospect’s discourse.  Not only is this rude, it is a solid indication we really aren’t listening.  Wait two seconds after your prospect finishes talking before putting your mouth in gear.  Not only will this keep you from stepping on your prospect’s tongue, that pause gives you a bit of time to think of your response and if you know you have time to construct your thoughts, you will feel less pressure to construct your rebuttal while not listening to your prospect.

Restate Your Prospects Statements:  Once your prospect has finished their statement, reword it back to your prospect to make sure you understand.  Say something like, “So, Ms. Prospect, I understand that your concern is . . .” or “I want to make sure I fully understand, you are suggesting that . . . . “

Although hardly natural for most of us, listening is a skill we can—and as sellers must—learn.

Now, go my children, listen well and sin no more—and if you catch me slipping up and interrupting you, obviously thinking about my next argument while you’re talking, or just plain ignoring what you’re saying, feel free to remind me that I deserve all of the sales failure I’ll experience.

Can I have an Amen?

Hey, Sales Leader, Your Input is Needed

LSE, an Aussie consulting company, is conducting a survey looking at the use and effectiveness of sales training and needs sales leaders, executives, and business owners to take a few minutes and complete the survey.

The survey is short and to the point.  Probably won’t take but 5, maybe 10 minutes at the most to complete.

You can find the survey at  http://www.lseconsulting.com.au/sales/sales-survey/

If you want, after completing the survey you can provide you name and email address and LSE will email you a copy of the survey results once the survey results have been tabulated.

So, hop over to  http://www.lseconsulting.com.au/sales/sales-survey/, help with the survey.