Questioning the Value of Questions in the Sales Process

I had the honor yesterday of participating in a roundtable discussion organized and presented by Focus.com about the use of questions in the sales process. Moderated by Andy Rudin of Outside Technologies, the panel consisted of some outstanding sales minds:  Dave Brock of Partners in Excellence, Jack Malcolm of Falcon Performance Group, Dan Waldschmidt of Waldschmidt/Arp, and finally, myself, of course.

Our discussion addressed some of the most fundamental myths and misconceptions sellers have about the use of questions in sales.  In fact, we deconstructed the whole idea of questioning as the central aspect of selling.

By all means, all involved agreed that questions are an essential and important aspect of information gathering and rapport building.  Questions help open prospects up so we can uncover new information and help get to core issues and concerns.  Questions can help focus both ourselves and our prospects to dig deeper and look more closely at what’s really going on in a company.

But in the end, questions are only a tool.  They aren’t the be all and end all of our interaction with prospects and clients.

The problem is that some sellers have walked away from their training on questioning feeling that questions are the secret key to success or that in order to be effective sellers they must be ever conscious of asking the “right” question or the “right” kind of question.

That’s simply bull.

Our object with a prospect or client isn’t to ask questions, even though as mentioned above, questions are tremendous tools.  Our object with prospects and clients has to be to communicate—to connect with them in a meaningful way that helps us understand who they are as well as their problems, needs, and wants.

Communication demands far more than an ability to ask questions.  It requires that, as Dan Waldschmidt pointed out, we care—that we care about the prospect, about the issues, about our reasons for doing what we do, about who we are and who we’re dealing with.

Communication demands that we connect on both an intellectual and emotional level.  Communication demands that we go beyond the gathering of information and actually touch the other person’s humanity (as well as our own).

Yes, we did talk about questions and their importance.  But in the end, it was about one human connecting with another, not about how to ask the perfect question.

The real question ends up being why are you asking questions?  Is it to connect and build a bridge to help solve issues for a fellow human—or to get into someone’s wallet?  That, sellers, is the first question that must be answered.

Guest Article: “Change Your Words, Improve Your Results to Increase Sales,” by Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Change Your Words, Improve Your Results to Increase Sales
 by Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Change or die writes Alan Deutschman. Yet many small business owners including crazy busy sales people continue to do what they have always done and then complain about not being able to increase sales.  This seems to be a continual whine especially from those engaged in coaching, consulting or those who provided other types of professional business services.

During the last couple of years as the market contracted due to global economic forces, more and more executives have faced early retirement to reduction in force. Many of these individuals have started their own consulting or coaching businesses, some by buying franchises and others starting from scratch.

With an even more crowded marketplace filled with hungry new small business owners, sometimes finding new clients willing to let loose of their profits to stuff into someone else’s pockets becomes a greater challenge.  So what is the eager entrepreneur supposed to do to avoid starving?

Maybe it is time to take a walk through a grocery store, some other retail store or even an automobile dealership to find that answer. What do you see?   Shelves, aisles and car lots filled with products. These products range from good, better or best. 

In grocery stores, you can purchase hamburger at 80% lean, 88% lean or 95% lean. Then you can hop over to your favorite retail store and find similar pricing.

Car manufacturers have this good, better or best product selection honed to a razor sharp edge. Even the most economical cars can quickly go from good to best with the additional equipment from automatic transmissions to sun-roof or is it moon roof?

What would happen if you or your organization embraced this good, better best approach with your pricing? And then instead of offering a multi thousand dollar project covering 4 months, provide monthly pricing for a six to 12 months. Given that execution is still a problem for many small business owners, by becoming a more long term supportive buying partner you have potentially demonstrated not only your value, but your understanding of your client’s cash flow.  You’re your trust and emotional connections have been even more firmly established. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Trust and emotions are Sales Buying Rules One and Two.

If a potential client wants to improve his or her situation, why should that want have a negative impact on his or her cash flow?  Of course, the ego driven, I need sales quota now individual sales person or sales manager may respond with “We don’t do that!” or “This is our firm and non-negotiable pricing!”  At this juncture, the salesperson or sales manager’s wants are going before the potential customer’s wants.  This desire is not a good way to earn a sale or better yet repeat business.

Case Study on Good, Better, Best

The Problem

A business coach required a quick infusion of new sales as cash flow was becoming a serious challenge.  He looked to using an assessment that had worked as a marketing freebie to build the relationship as a quick solution to securing additional quick revenue.

The Solution

By reconfiguring or repositioning the deliverables for this assessment into 3 tiers of good, better, best, he was able to provide additional value for each offering.  This reconfiguration allowed him to even increase his price for the best offering.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Reconfiguration or repositioning is one of the three factors in providing sustainable business solutions.

The Results

Within 3 days of this new good, better, best approach, he met with a potential client who had been referred to him. During the meeting, she asked if he had any information about this assessment. My client pulled out a one page marketing flyer that briefly explained the good, better, best solutions. His potential client read the information, then pulled out her checkbook and wrote a check for the best solution.

Beyond having a check in hand, the good, better, best solution reduced his sales cycle time by three quarters to two thirds.  Another result is the potential client had the perception the sales decision was all in her control.

Why Good, Better, Best Works

There are several reasons why the good, better, best approach works. First is the inherent preexisting value within each of the words.  Since people buy on value unique to them (the Third Sales Buying Rule), they have already predetermined the value associated with each of these three words.

Another reason are the words good, better, best elicit a far stronger emotional reaction than words such as option or alternative.  Since the Second Sales Buying Rule is people buy first on emotion, then justify that decision with logic, emotions are key.

Finally, this approach helps to overcome one if not more of the Five Sales Objections of you, your company, your solutions, your price and your delivery.

For the last several years, I have lived by this motto:  Change your words; Improve your results.  By understanding the impact of words and aligning my practice to those new words, I have been able to increase sales. Maybe it is time for you to consider a similar change in your pricing and business model?

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Author of Be the Red Jacket  http://bit.ly/1Q9mnV219.508.2859– CT (nearChicago,IL)
www.increase-sales-coach.com

Master Your Sales Conversations–And Close More Sales

Ever feel like your sales conversations don’t go as well as you would have liked? Perhaps there was something nagging at you that made you think, “I could be doing something better. Something to win more and bigger sales, but I’m not sure what.”

No matter what you’re selling, at some point you have conversations with buyers. Much selling success is determined here. Over the years I’ve seen too many sales people, leaders, and professionals struggle to create sales conversations, kick them off well, uncover needs, create enthusiasm with the prospect, and win business. Without realizing it they make the same mistakes over and over again that end up losing sales.

My friends Mike Schultz and John Doerr, Founders of RainToday and Co-Presidents of the Rain Group, have just released  Rainmaking Conversations, which teaches you everything you need to know about leading masterful sales conversations.

This book gives you a practical step by step process to go from the first “hello” to “send me an invoice…let’s go.” Full of compelling stories, examples, and winning techniques, the book covers how to:

• ·         Build rapport and trust early on in the relationship
• ·         Uncover the full set of prospect needs (most advice and training only gives you half the story)
• ·         Develop winning value propositions that get prospects excited to buy
• ·         Apply the 16 principles of influence in sales
• ·         Overcome all types of objections  (including price pressure) and move towards the close
• ·         Craft compelling solutions and close the deal
• ·         Avoid the most common mistakes that kill sales

The book walks you through RAIN Selling, an acronym that stands for Rapport, Aspirations and Afflictions, Impact, and New Reality. It provides a guide for the most important part of sales – the conversations you have with prospects and clients.

Rainmaking Conversations is hot off the presses, and it’s a great sales book. A classic in the making. To kick off the book launch, the authors have put together an amazing bonus package for those of you who buy a copy today.

 Pick up a copy today and you’ll get tons of bonuses including a special bonus from me! So get your copy at Amazon.com. Then stop by: www.RainGroup.com/Book/Bonuses to pick up all the bonuses.

I highly recommend it!

Book Review: Make What You Say Pay, by Anne Miller

Although most of us use metaphors in our everyday conversations, we tend to use them as ineptly than a toddler trying to hit a ball with a bat—we hit one on occasion but most of the time we aren’t even close to hitting the mark.  Ah, but those few times we manage to construct a gem of a metaphor it feels great, and better yet, it really turns our words into precisely aimed darts that can really impact our audience deeply.

Uh, oh.  Like so much of the time when we try to use metaphors, I’ve wandered–from toddlers playing baseball to precious stones to messing with darts; can’t have toddlers throwing darts—too dangerous don’t you know.

This is where Anne Miller steps in with her newest book, Make What You Say Pay (CreateSpace: 2010).  Make What You Say Pay is a natural follow-up to Metaphorically Selling, Miller’s book that teaches us how to use metaphors. 

In Make What You Say Pay, Miller presents more than 50 case studies of how companies and individuals have successfully used metaphors to effectively and succinctly communicate their message.  This isn’t so much a “how to” book as a “this is what you can do, too” book.  Taken together, Metaphorically Selling is the “how to” and Make What You Say Pay is the case studies book.  And I think they really should be read in that order.

Miller’s examples range from making numerical information bearable to making complex concepts understandable to handling stressful situations.  Miller demonstrates through example after example how a simple metaphor can change lives and the fortunes of companies by making the obscure clear, by creating an deep emotional impact, or by turning a long explanation into a short, simple sentence.

If part of your job is communicating with others (and whose job isn’t, at least to some extent?), both Metaphorically Selling and Make What You Say Pay should be on your reading list.  Both are relatively short and to the point, but packed with real help for those who seek to have more impact on those with whom they communicate. 

Available from Amazon, Books-a-Million, Barnes and Noble and all fine booksellers.

Guest Article: “The Five Steps To Successful Sales Communication,” by Nick Morgan

The Five Steps To Successful Sales Communications
By Nick Morgan

The sales world has accumulated many myths about what makes for success, especially in the tricks and techniques for communicating during the sale — a huge part of any sales process. Following are some myth-busting insights from the latest communications research. Follow these five steps and see your close rate skyrocket!

1. It’s not about your product, it’s about listening to your customer’s need.

Most salespeople know that they should listen to the client, but too few of them do, and usually not soon enough. And they don’t listen in the right way. You should be listening for the underlying messages more than the superficial ones. What emotion is the (potential) customer putting forward? Excitement about a new purchase? Fear about a new technology? Resistance to change? Resentment at the old product?

What’s memorable — and important to people — in communication is emotion; that’s what you should be listening for and responding to, not just the expressed content. If you acknowledge a client’s emotions, and figure out an appropriate way to respond to them, you’ll be his favorite salesperson in no time.

Begin by reflecting back the basic messages. “So what I hear you saying is that you’re in the market for a new flibbertigibbet, is that right?” Once you get the basics settled, then move on to the emotions. Ask questions to elicit them, like, “Were you sorry to see the old one go, or was it good riddance to bad rubbish?”

Keep it light; this is a sale, not therapy. But don’t duck from stronger emotions if they come up. Put on your therapist hat and go to work. Your goal in all this is to be able to complete the following sentence: “Customer X is in the market for a Y, and she’s Z about it.” X is the customer, Y is the product, and Z is the customer’s attitude.

You’ll have time to sell your customer on products, features, and upgrades later. For now, focus on establishing a connection. We want to feel that connection is real and strong enough to last through the after-sale (or repeat-sale) care, so don’t rush it or fake it. Connections between people get established at the surface first, but if they’re to be durable, then they must have emotional glue to hold them together.

2. It’s not about eye contact; it’s about personal space.

Of course we all know that eye contact is important to communicating — and selling. But it’s not as important as most people seem to think. The exquisite dance of eye contact between two people who are talking to one another is largely regulated by our unconscious minds. The point is to signal — along with a symphony of other gestures — when one person is done or almost done and the other person should start talking. It’s only noticed when one person indulges in too much — or too little — eye contact. Then it interferes with the regulation of the conversation.

It’s like catching the eye of a waiter. A good waiter makes it effortless; the harried or incompetent make it difficult.

More important to communication and to sales is the amount of space between the two people. We all have incredibly sensitive monitoring capabilities keeping constant track of where we — and everyone else — is in space. It’s for obvious safety reasons, it’s mostly unconscious, and it works very well.

We monitor four zones of space. Twelve feet or more is public space — and our unconscious brains don’t pay much attention to that, because that means that people are far enough away that we have time to react.

Twelve feet to four feet is social space. That’s warmer, and our brains are now paying attention, but it’s still a cool relationship. Things heat up in personal space — four feet to a foot and a half. And things get really hot in intimate space — a foot and a half to zero.

Here’s what’s important: The only significant things that happen between people happen in personal and intimate space. As a sales person, you can’t go into intimate space, usually, so here’s the takeaway — to close a sale you must get into the personal space of the client/customer. It’s why car salespeople spend so much time shaking your hand — they want to build your trust by getting into your personal space repeatedly. Good tactic, just a bit overdone.

For the rest of us, a successful sale involves the delicate art of creating trust without pushing it. Use personal space subtly and tactfully and you’ll accomplish this with style. Let the eye contact take care of itself.

3. To close a sale, you need to first establish two things with your customer: credibility and trust.

To succeed with an audience, or a customer, you need to establish credibility first and trust second. Credibility comes first, because that’s what happens when you show that you understand the customer’s problem. Trust comes second, because that’s what you establish when you solve that problem.

Failing either one, your relationship with the client or customer won’t be durable. Without credibility, you’ll find that your customer will be likely to go elsewhere in search of expertise, even if they trust you as a human being. Do you really understand my paint color issues? Without trust, a client will be tempted to mine you for expertise, and then go make the ultimate purchase from someone else. Will you really follow through on the after-sale?

How do you establish these two key aspects of a relationship? Begin by listening to the customer’s problem. Show that you understand it as well or better than the client does, and you’ll create credibility. She gets that I loathe chartreuse! Finally, someone who knows something about paint!

Then, show how you can solve that problem. You’ll forge a strong bond of trust with that client when you take away the point of pain that sent them to the marketplace in the first place. That shade of lavender will be perfect for the room.

Credibility and trust. The two key ingredients for a strong, enduring relationship with a customer.

4. Closing a sale is all about understanding the customer’s decision-making process.

Where are your clients or customers when they get in touch with you?

Are they happy with the product they have, but want to be reassured that they made the right decision?

Or are they in the throes of the problem, uncertain of which way to go, looking for answers?

Or have they already decided on a course of action, and are basically looking for you to take the order?

Each of these states of mind requires very different handling; it’s axiomatic that you need to understand your customers’ state of mind clearly in order to be able to talk to them effectively.

Customers in the first stages of decision-making just need help with framing the problem. Less information is better. Just give them a statistic, or a very brief verbal portrait of what the future might look like. Do you realize that the 2011 version of the Fabulator uses half the energy of its predecessors?

Customers deep in the problem want information — comparisons, data, detail. This stage is where all that product or service knowledge you have is actually useful. Don’t go to the point of eyes glazing over, but do satisfy the urge for information. Both models will get the job done, but the Fabulator-B is smaller and quieter, not to mention faster operating.

And clients who have already made up their mind will appreciate some visualizing of the benefits, but very little else. They don’t want to be slowed down, so don’t make it hard for them to buy. You’ve made a great choice. The Fabulator Supreme will take care of all your issues and also make you a spectacular cup of morning coffee. Now let’s get that paperwork out of the way.

That’s why it’s so important to listen to your customers before you launch into any kind of explanation. If you don’t know where they are, you can’t point them to where they should be going.

5. Involve your customer with small steps to get them comfortable to take the bigger ones.

It’s imperative that you don’t do all the work in the sales process. If you keep your clients passive, don’t be surprised when it’s hard for them to suddenly get active and agree to close the sale. Too many salespeople think that it’s all up to them. But the real secret is to get the customer working on the deal too. Begin with little steps, steps that don’t involve big commitments, and then work up from there.

In the 1987 comedy Tin Men, 1960s-era aluminum siding salesman Richard Dreyfuss initiates a younger protégé into the magical world of sales. In one call on a housewife, Dreyfuss drops a dollar bill on the floor, and allows the housewife to pick it up for him. He explains to the initiate that he can tell whether or not he’s going to get a sale with this trick. If the housewife picks up the bill, she’s a nice person and can be talked into aluminum siding. If she doesn’t, she won’t be won over.

The psychology is right, but the execution is wrong. Dreyfuss should have been seeking to create a real relationship with his customers, rather than just exploiting them. And by getting them involved, not in sneaky tests of their malleability, but in genuine steps along the road to the sale, he would have increased the amount of aluminum siding gracing the houses of Baltimore.

Take your clients from passive to active. Involve them in the process. Don’t do all the work.

Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication theorists and coaches. In his blog he covers modern communications from a variety of angles, including the latest developments in communication research, the basic principles and rules of good communication, and the good and bad speakers of the day. His passion is to connect the latest brain research with timeless insights into persuasive speaking and writing in order to further our understanding of how people connect with one another.

For the Serial Prospecticider, Social Media is Now the Killing Field

A little over three years ago I wrote about one of the primary business killing crimes sellers commit–prospecticide, which is the killing of prospects through meaningless and self-centered communications that teach the prospect to ignore the seller because all the seller does is waste the prospect’s time. 

Since that original article identifying prospecticide as a real and widespread crime, little has been done to eradicate it or to reform the criminals committing it.  Salespeople and business owners are still flooding their prospects with communications designed to benefit the seller, not the prospect.  Prospects are still learning not to open the useless emails, to ignore the tweets, and trash the snail mail letters without opening them.

But increasingly the postal service is no longer the primary instrument of destruction as social media such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook kill much quicker and with far less effort—and without incurring a cost to boot.

In the past the primary communications were letters that featured a “special” or a discussion of some new product or service that was of absolutely no interest to the prospect or client.  Other hot topics were some award the company had just won or a self-serving discussion of the money the company just gave to a deserving charity or some green initiative.  Whatever the primary content of the communication, it had one of two messages—either, we want your money, or see how great we are, aren’t you honored to do business with us?

Those messages had nothing to do with the prospect’s needs or wants.  They often didn’t even acknowledge the prospect or client was a unique human being–other than maybe the auto filled name in the greeting.  It was 100% seller centered and thus, had little to no interest for the prospect or client receiving it.

Certainly, those communications still exist.  The postal service still delivers pieces of poisoned mail to millions of dead and dying prospects and clients every day.

However, social media has become the primary killing field.  We can kill so much faster and with far deadlier content.

No longer do we have to bore prospects with a write up about how great we are because we just donated to a charity.  Not at all.  Now we can really show them how self-centered we are by tweeting that we’re sitting in the Starbucks at the corner of 2^nd and A Street.  It was bad enough when we went out of our way to make sure our prospects knew we’re great citizens and deserved their business because we donated to charity.  Now we can really show our ego by believing that we’re so important that they actually care when we take a coffee break.

But our coffee break isn’t the only thing we can use to kill our prospects and clients.  I’ve seen sellers post Facebook posts about trying to overcome the hangover from last night’s drunk; a conversation they just had with a jerk customer where they told the customer just where to get off; and even one where the seller was bragging about how he sabotaged a competitor’s demonstration to a prospect.

Yes, these are all errors that few of us would commit.  But the tenor of the posts is pretty common—very personal posts that reveal a lack of discretion.  The posts are too personal or reveal a lack of integrity or responsibility.  This isn’t to say one can’t be personal.  I know sellers who tweet and post on Facebook their political and religious beliefs or about their family.  I see nothing wrong with that as long as it isn’t a personal attack and the postings are occasional. 

Blogs in many cases have taken the place of the snail mail letter—where the discount specials, the articles about the latest award or charitable donation are touted, or where the newest product or service is presented.  There is nothing wrong or inappropriate with the occasional blog or letter that discusses new products or services; informs about the most recent award or donation; or toots you or your company’s horn, as long as these are the exception rather than the rule.  If all your blog does is brag or present your products and services, I have no reason to read it—unless I happen to have an immediate need for a particular product or service you’re promoting.

So what content doesn’t commit prospecticide?  That which brings value to your prospect—articles written by you or others that discuss issues of concern to your prospect, whatever those issues might be; interviews with leaders in the prospect’s field; reviews of books that would be of interest to your prospect.  Whatever brings value—real value—to your prospect.  Whatever informs, educates, presents potential solutions or expands an interest of your prospect or client. 

Quality prospect communication has always been prospect focused.  With the increased frequency of contact that social media provides, it is more important than ever that your content be geared toward meeting the wants and needs of your prospects because if they don’t, if they’re just self-centered promotional items, you’ll kill your prospects faster than ever before.

Guest Article: “Four Steps to Organize Your Network for Powerful Pinging,” by Keith Ferrazzi

Four Steps to Organize Your Network for Powerful Pinging
By Keith Ferrazzi

Failing to plan, as they say, is planning to fail. So it goes with outreach. Most people’s efforts are scattershot. But if you want to make the most of your network – and give the most to your network – you need to get organized.

Here’s the method I use to make maintaining my network of contacts, colleagues, and friends easier. It’s a strategy that can be adapted for use with any number of applications out there today for tracking contacts. The basic steps are: Categorize, Prioritize, Track, and Schedule Weekly Outreach.

1.    Divide your network into categories. There’s no standard method here. Create a segmentation that works for you and your objectives. Personally, I use five categories: Personal, Customers, Prospects, Important Business Associates (which includes both people I’m in business with, and people I plan to be), and Aspirational Contacts. The “personal” category I don’t include on call lists, because these are people who I’m in contact with organically; the relationship is established, and when we talk, it’s as if we’d been in touch every day.

2.    Prioritize the list to decide how often to contact each person. I’ll go down my master list (which includes all the categories) and add the numbers 1, 2, or 3 next to each name. A “1” gets contacted at least each month; a “2” gets a quarterly call or email; a “3” I try to reach once a year, probably through a group communication like a holiday card.

3.     Schedule weekly outreach. I do this by segmenting my network into call lists. In time, your master list will become too unwieldy to work from directly.Your call lists will save you time and keep your efforts focused. They can be organized by your number ratings, by geography, by industry, and so on. It’s totally flexible. I make a habit of reviewing my master list at the end of the week and crosschecking it with the activities and travel plans I have for the following week. In this way, I stay up-to-date and have my trusty lists at my side all week long.

4.    Track your outreach. Each time I reach out to a person, I like to include a very short note next to their name telling me the last time I contacted them and how. If last month I sent an e-mail saying hello to a potential customer rated “1,” this month I’ll give a call.

With a plan in place, I guarantee you’ll keep in touch with people you otherwise would have forgotten – until the moment you needed them. In other words, TOO LATE!

Keith Ferrazzi is one of the rare individuals who discovered the essential formula for making his way to the top — a powerful and balanced combination of marketing acumen and networking savvy. Both Forbes and Inc. magazines have designated him one of the world’s most “connected” individuals.  Keith is the author of the best-selling book, Never Eat Alone.  Visit his website

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?

Guest Article: “How to Deliver a Difficult Message,” by Marcus A Smith

How to Deliver a Difficult Message
by Marcus A Smith

Delivering difficult messages is a part of life.  For simplicity’s sake difficult will be defined as anything that will create animosity within your audience.  Gut wrenching situations such as engineering a layoff, breaking up a relationship, or denying service to a customer come to mind.  These situations are uncomfortable for all parties involved.

When forced to prepare a difficult message focus on the following things:

1. Remove Personal Feelings – This is a counter intuitive yet imperative step.  Bad news is best delivered in the absence of emotion.  Emotions always make a situation murky.  If you can not remove your emotions then pass the task to someone who can.
2. Prepare for Backlash –  There is one certain thing about delivering bad news.  Everyone’s response is DIFFERENT.  That can not be emphasized enough.  Do not make the mistake of assuming that your listener will go on his/her merry way without causing a commotion, asking pointed questions, or otherwise making the situation uncomfortable for you.
3. Be Very Specific – If you intend to chastise someone or deliver bad news then your ducks need to be in order.  Think about it for a second.  Have you ever received general negative feedback from a boss or relative with no specifics?  If you have then you know how frustrating of a circus this is.  You end up jockeying for position and leaving the situation annoyed and confused.
4. Stand Firm – Last but not least.  You must stand firm in your message.  Most people’s response to negative feedback (yours truly included) is to defend themselves.  It is truly amazing what a person can remember and conceive when defense mode kicks in.  Be prepared for this and stand firm on the facts.

Hopefully, your use of this article will be scarce.  We all prefer to deliver well received, positive, happy messages.  The ebb and flow of life will often dictate otherwise.  When this occurs heed the advice in this article and come out of the situation relatively unscathed.

Marcus A Smith is a professional speaker and speaking coach.  Visit his website

What Are You Teaching Your Prospects and Clients About Your Value to Them?

At least once a week I have a conversation with a sales leader or seller who complains about how much time and money they’re wasting on efforts to keep in touch with their prospects and clients since prospects and clients “never seem to read the damn stuff anyway.”  If it weren’t for the need to keep their name in front of their prospects and clients, there’s no way they’d waste the kind of money they’re throwing away.

I can sympathize—I’ve done the same.  In fact, I suspect a great many of us in sales—whether entrepreneurs, service professionals, or sales reps—who must construct our own communication program without the benefit of a marketing department struggle with the same issue (by the way, the marketing department struggles with it also).

Why do we spend so much time, money and effort in communicating with our prospects and clients and walk away with the feeling—the knowledge–that they haven’t read a word of what we wrote or heard a word we said?

The answer is quite simple—but one we really don’t want to hear–we haven’t delivered anything of value to them. 

We’ve committed the most common and most grievous sin in sales—we’ve focused on our needs and what the client or prospect can do for us, not on their needs and how we can be of service to them.  We’ve fallen into the easiest trap in the world to fall into—making the communication about us, not about the prospect or client.

Think about some of the most common communications we have with our prospects and clients:

• “just checking to see if you need anything”
• “wanted to make sure you got the flier about the special we’re having”
• “look at the award we won”
• “get a 15% discount on your next order when you refer someone”
• “just reminding you it’s time to reorder”
• “wanted to follow-up and see if you needed anything else or had any questions about our proposal”
• “here’s a commercial, canned newsletter that has my name printed on it, maybe there’s something in here worth reading–and I hope you don’t get the same newsletter from one of my competitors because, boy, that’d be embarrassing”

Notice anything about these communications?  These and most of the other follow-up communications we have with our prospects and clients are about us, not them.  Whether we’re calling them, emailing them, sending a newsletter, a postcard, or snail mail letter, most of our communications are designed to benefit us more than our prospect or client.

The problem with the above communications is that for the most part, our prospects and clients don’t care about this information.  They aren’t communications that interest and help them.  In fact, most of the time, these communications do nothing but waste their time, and if we waste their time often enough, they’ll simply ignore our efforts to communicate with them.

Am I saying then that you can’t inform your prospects and clients about specials, remind them it is time to reorder, or ask if there is additional information they need in regards to your proposal? Of course not (I am saying, however, that you can never, ever, ever make the “just checking to see if you need anything” phone call).  But in order to have earned the right to make these “me” communications, you have to demonstrate that your focus isn’t you, but them.

You want to keep your name in front of your prospects and clients and you want to be able to communicate with them about things that are important to you, but to do that, ironically, you can’t focus on yourself.  How do you do that?

The easiest and most disciplined way to maintain contact, keep your name in front of your prospects and clients, earn the right to communicate about things that are important to you, and to teach your prospects and clients to pay attention to you is by creating a formal “touch” program, a campaign where you “touch” each of your prospects and clients on a regular basis with information that benefits them far more than it may immediately and obviously benefit you. 

Your touch campaign should focus not on who you are or what you do, it shouldn’t be focused on selling or overtly marketing your products or services, but rather it should focus on delivering information that your prospects and clients will find beneficial or useful.

What will your clients and prospects find to be useful?  That, of course, depends on who your prospects and clients are.  Sending recipes to business executives probably isn’t going to earn you a great deal of attention, just as sending an article on six sigma management theory isn’t going to do a lot for you if your prospects and clients are interested in discovering and cooking exotic dishes.

The first step in knowing what is of interest to your prospects and clients is to know your prospects and clients.  Sounds silly, but a great many sellers know little to nothing about the makeup of the group or groups they sell to.

Identifying and developing content that will capture the attention of and benefit business prospects and clients is often easier than identifying content for consumers because of the obvious commonality of interests. 

But even if your market is made up of groups of men and women with multiple, diverse interests, you can customize content with relatively little trouble by dividing your prospect and client list into two, three, four or more interest groups. Using an email contact product such as Aweber or Constant Contact can make communicating with multiple lists manageable

Since our prospects and clients are not automatons but are flesh and blood humans, we have to recognize that they not only respond to different content, they respond to different ways of being touched.  Consequently, we have to employ a variety of ways of reaching out to them.  For most of us that means some combination of:

• Phone calls
• Personal and/or general emails
• Monthly or quarterly newsletter
• Postcards
• Thank You cards
• Birthday/holiday greeting cards
• Snail mail letters

Although we may not employ every format from the list above, our communication program needs to employ a combination of the personal (phone call, birthday card) with the general (newsletter, postcard).

How often should you connect with your list?  Studies indicate that an effective communication campaign will touch each prospect and client 12 to 18 times a year–basically, once every 3 to 4 weeks.

Obviously, if you have more than just a very few prospects and clients on your list you can’t make a personal phone call or send a personal letter or email every 3 to 4 weeks, so you will have to include some forms of mass communication in your program mix.

That takes us back to what to communicate?

If you’re selling to businesses some things you might communicate are:

• Industry studies or forecasts
• General economic studies or forecasts
• Information about a specific competitor, new industry trend, new or proposed local, state, or federal government rules, regulations, or laws
• Articles or news that might reveal new opportunities
• A particularly interesting sales, management, hr, or marketing article that could apply to the industry
• Success stories or unique and creative ways the industry’s products or services have been employed
• Stories or articles about a particular company or individual

Virtually any of the above could be used in a personal phone call, email or letter to a prospect or client on your list, and most could be used in a general communication.  For a mass communication the more general the piece (general economic forecast from the Wall Street Journal as opposed to an industry forecast from an industry journal) the better as most of your readers will probably be familiar with material that comes from their industry publications.  The same holds true for a highly specialized publication—an article from a very specialized and limited circulation industry newsletter makes for a much better communication than an article from a general industry publication since it is far less likely your readers will have seen the piece from the specialized publication prior to your communication.

If your list is made up of consumers with a common interest—skiing–your content can be pretty easy to acquire since things such as product reviews, skiing venue reviews, and other skiing content is readily available and there are so many publications that it wouldn’t be difficult to find content that would be new to most readers.

But what if your list is more general?  Look for some content that will appeal to the vast majority such as general financial news, financial guidance, consumer reports, consumer trends, general interest news, or find ways to divide your list into more specialized lists where you can focus in on specialized topics. 

For both business and consumer content, the key is knowing your prospects and clients.  The better you know your list, the more you can focus your content to their needs and interests.

What about all of those great offers and discounts and new products you want to tell your prospects and clients about?  Are they off the table?  No, not at all.  You can weave those into your campaign; they just can’t be the focus, the center of attention.  You can even include those offers in every letter, email or newsletter your send–if they are only a secondary part of the content.  Once they become the main focus, you will once again be teaching your list that you’re concerned about you, not them, and that they no longer need to pay attention to you.

Why go to this much trouble?  Why not just buy a boilerplate newsletter and be done with it?  Why not just do what you’ve always done and not worry about all this non-sense about teaching prospects and clients to pay attention since they’re not going to read the stuff anyway?

Well, frankly, that’s what most of your competitors will do.  They’ll go along as they’ve always done, sending self-serving drivel, teaching their prospects and clients that they have nothing of interest to offer them.   They’ll choose to continue focusing on their needs instead of their prospects and client’s because it is easier. 

You too can take the easy route, the route everyone else takes and end up with the same results as everyone else—finding it difficult to get your calls taken or returned, not having your emails, letters, and newsletter read, wondering why you’re wasting your time and money sending stuff to your list.  Or you can choose to invest the time and effort to create a communication campaign that really impacts your prospects and clients and that teaches them to pay attention to you because you really have something to offer them.  It’s your choice.  Easy it isn’t—but then doing the hard work is what sets the successful sales professional apart from the also ran.  Which are you?                                                                     

NOTE:  On Tuesday, March 23 you can attend a free webinar where we’ll be discussing how to create a powerful touch campaign for your prospects and clients that will teach them to pay attention to you.  You can find more information about the webinar and register for it HERE