I often post articles on the things that we need to do to get stronger results in Sales and Leadership. Below, find the first of three articles on how salespeople today BLOW IT on a reguar basis. Why is this important? If we are not learning from our losses, we are doomed to repeat them!
How do salespeople BLOW sales and LOSE customers?
1.They’re focused on what they sell rather than what the customer needs.
The typical salesperson comes into almost every sales interaction with the same intent: To tell the prospect as much as they can about the product or service that they offer and then get them to buy it. It’s no wonder that customers hide behind voicemail and screen us out! Who wants to be put through that? Sales professionals need to understand that customers are only talking to you because they have a need that they wish to have met. Instead of throwing up on the customer, the salesperson needs to find out what those needs are, as well as how the customer wants them to be met. How can this be done? SHUT UP AND SELL! Ask questions and listen!
2.They have very little, if any, pre-call planning.
We wouldn’t expect our attorneys to go into court on trial day winging it, would we? We don’t expect our doctors to go into the operating room without a plan. We assume that the sports teams that we watch have a game plan that they execute for every opponent, don’t we? If we wouldn’t expect any of these professionals to “fly by the seat of their pants” when it comes time to earn their pay, why in the world do we allow our salespeople to do it?
The most valuable asset that our customers have today is their time. And salespeople are getting less of it! Especially ones who are coming into the interaction unprepared and without a clear strategy and plan to execute it. In what areas can your people be more prepared? Here’s a major one: What is the purpose of the call? Without a clear purpose for the sales call, the salesperson will invariably waste their time and the time of their prospect, customer, or client.
3.They act and sound just like everyone else.
I got a chance to sit through a day of sales presentations this year for a software development client company of mine. They were reviewing a few components that they were seeking to add to some of their products and had invited several companies to present their offerings on the same day-one after the other. What an eye opening experience! One after another, the salespeople and their engineers filed in and gave their presentations. One after another they set up their PowerPoint presentations and began the show and tell sessions. A bit of introductory mambo jumbo was typically followed up by a “Thank you for your time today and the opportunity to show you why we……blah, blah, blah, blah.
No matter what company they represented, their sales processes typically followed the same dance steps. The salesperson spent the opening portion speaking about their company, it’s history, it’s customers, it’s special qualifications, etc. Next, they started extolling the many features and virtues of their product or program. Not one of them asked the customer (my client) what it was that was most important to them. Not one of them asked what it was that my customer wanted as far as a result of ownership. I found myself “glazing over” when they spoke because I felt, as did my client (their prospect) a profound sense of non-involvement in the process. I felt as if I was watching a bad re-run over and over!
Let your approach be your main differentiator this year. Don’t dance the same dance and sing the same song as the rest.
Stay tuned over the next few weeks as I post the next 7 things to look out for in your sales team's performance. Pay attention to this stuff or pay in another way in the long run!
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
2nd of 3--Top 10 Things Top Sellers Do!
Below, you'll find some additional things (#4 thru #6)that Top Sales Pros engage in regularly that avaergae sellers do not. Again, just as with my last post, we need to understand that they are top sellers for a reason and that success leaves clues. These areas that I am addressing in the last post, this post, and my post next week are a solid "blueprint" for anyone to use in the construction of a stellar sales career.
4-Plan-Prepare-Practice
The Top Producers always seem to have a plan. It all starts with major clarity on their goals. They are very clear on the WHY so the WHAT and the HOW become their focus. The Heavy Hitters go into every call with a purpose and a higher level of preparation. They have run through all the “what-if” scenarios. They have thought through, written down, and practiced the questions that they will ask. They have mentally run through everything from the customer’s prospective. They are prepared to “open” the customer more effectively and practiced at transitioning to the “close” of the sale. They know the solid IMPACT statements and questions at the right time because they plan them, prepare them, and practice them ALL the time. BTW, they don't practice on the customer....they "inspect in private what they expect in public."
5-They Brand Themselves in Their Marketplace
The Cream of the Selling Crop make sure that they are “known-for” something in the marketplace. They create a buzz about who they are and what they know or do by becoming visible to those who may use their product or service. They realize that being a vendor is a tough gig because vendors are a dime a dozen, unless the customer only wants to pay a nickel. The Best of the Best want to be known as the EXPERT. They do the things necessary to position themselves in the marketplace as THE CHOICE rather than A CHOICE. They take the time to write articles and have them published in magazines and newsletters that their customers read. They get out of their comfort zones and look to speak at industry events that their customers attend. They constantly and consistently “touch” their prospects, customers, and clients in a variety of creative and value-add ways to ensure top of consciousness in the minds of the buyers. Top Pros always seek to create “Only Me” value to the sale. They realize that if they are not "visible" then they are "in-visible." They also undertand that if they are not known for somethingthen they are good for nothing!
6-They are Willing to Lose
All too often, most salespeople don’t take the risk of asking for the YES because they are afraid to hear the NO. The Top Sales Pros understand that they are in the NO taking business. They also understand that their success is highly dependant upon their willingness to “crash and burn” in failure. Jeffery Gitomer once sated that “Most people won’t risk asking because they fear the unknown. The real reason that they won’t risk is because they lack the preparation and education that breeds the self confidence (self-belief) to take a chance.” The great Wayne Gretzky once said that “You miss 100% of the shots that you never take.” And so it is with the best salespeople: They get out in front and risk it all for themselves, for the customer, and for their career because they know that most of their competition will STOP when the pressure of the potential loss gets too high. I try to teach the following to my kids, "The answer is always NO until you ask them to say YES!" The worst that can haappen is that "NO" is now clearer! ASK for it!
4-Plan-Prepare-Practice
The Top Producers always seem to have a plan. It all starts with major clarity on their goals. They are very clear on the WHY so the WHAT and the HOW become their focus. The Heavy Hitters go into every call with a purpose and a higher level of preparation. They have run through all the “what-if” scenarios. They have thought through, written down, and practiced the questions that they will ask. They have mentally run through everything from the customer’s prospective. They are prepared to “open” the customer more effectively and practiced at transitioning to the “close” of the sale. They know the solid IMPACT statements and questions at the right time because they plan them, prepare them, and practice them ALL the time. BTW, they don't practice on the customer....they "inspect in private what they expect in public."
5-They Brand Themselves in Their Marketplace
The Cream of the Selling Crop make sure that they are “known-for” something in the marketplace. They create a buzz about who they are and what they know or do by becoming visible to those who may use their product or service. They realize that being a vendor is a tough gig because vendors are a dime a dozen, unless the customer only wants to pay a nickel. The Best of the Best want to be known as the EXPERT. They do the things necessary to position themselves in the marketplace as THE CHOICE rather than A CHOICE. They take the time to write articles and have them published in magazines and newsletters that their customers read. They get out of their comfort zones and look to speak at industry events that their customers attend. They constantly and consistently “touch” their prospects, customers, and clients in a variety of creative and value-add ways to ensure top of consciousness in the minds of the buyers. Top Pros always seek to create “Only Me” value to the sale. They realize that if they are not "visible" then they are "in-visible." They also undertand that if they are not known for somethingthen they are good for nothing!
6-They are Willing to Lose
All too often, most salespeople don’t take the risk of asking for the YES because they are afraid to hear the NO. The Top Sales Pros understand that they are in the NO taking business. They also understand that their success is highly dependant upon their willingness to “crash and burn” in failure. Jeffery Gitomer once sated that “Most people won’t risk asking because they fear the unknown. The real reason that they won’t risk is because they lack the preparation and education that breeds the self confidence (self-belief) to take a chance.” The great Wayne Gretzky once said that “You miss 100% of the shots that you never take.” And so it is with the best salespeople: They get out in front and risk it all for themselves, for the customer, and for their career because they know that most of their competition will STOP when the pressure of the potential loss gets too high. I try to teach the following to my kids, "The answer is always NO until you ask them to say YES!" The worst that can haappen is that "NO" is now clearer! ASK for it!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Look Before You Leap---THINK Before You Speak!
I had the good fortune of taking the afternoon recently to play some golf with a few friends at my club. The game that I was invited to play in was supposedly a friendly match that included a substantial amount of financial windfall to the winner, typically funded by the losers. I love a good “money-game” on the golf course so this was a very welcome invitation.
The morning started at 5:30am at the gym. As I spent an hour on the elliptical machine, I caught my thoughts wandering toward the afternoon’s match. As I lifted some weights and stretched over the next 45 minutes, I found my actions focusing on how my swing would be later that day. On the way back to the office from the gym, I was mentally preparing the balance of my morning to best “stack the deck” for the competition to come. I thought about what to wear, what to eat, when to arrive, how to warm-up, and how to practice before starting. I thought about how I wanted to play each hole and where I would be aggressive. I thought about my previous few rounds and focused on what I had been doing great and not so great.
Although I did not plan the night before to spend the morning preparing for a golf match that could result in a few hundred bucks changing hands, the thoughts appeared nonetheless. It was during my review of these thoughts that I understood that I had developed a habit of thought when faced with an activity that required substantial results based upon my performance. Where did this habit develop? Through years of preparing for sales!
Every day, as a sales professional, each of us enters a competitive marketplace to face a variety of challenges to our success. These challenges come in many forms and the thoughts that go through our mind before we enter the marketplace DEFINE our actions and behaviors. Too often, salespeople enter the day’s activities in much the same way that many people enter the workforce; they just show up! The actions in which they involve themselves each day are not a direct result of conscious thought, but rather repetitious activity. They mindlessly go through the motions of making calls, leaving messages, visiting accounts, taking orders, and filling out reports. When the dust all settles from the day, the results are very similar to yesterday, the day before, and the day before that. As Earl Nightingale stated in his award winning audio, The Strangest Secret, “The opposite of courage is conformity.” In other words, we conform to the natural tendency to simply show up and do our jobs. The first thing it takes to get out of this RUT is to think!!
In a recent CEO workshop I held, one of the attendees asked me a question: “What is it, Gerry that you believe that you sell?” After pondering the question for a moment, I answered that when I am speaking from the stage, I am really selling new ways of looking at things or new ways of thinking! Before anyone can or will take different ACTION towards something, they must first think about it in a different way. Otherwise, there would be no motivation for the change in behavior or action! Think about it for a moment... every bit of information that enters your head comes with it the seeds of new thought and possibly newly directed behavior or action. When you are given new information, you think about that topic differently. When you view a documentary that provides a considerable amount of new information about a topic that interests you, your mind goes into a thought process that could potentially make you take action that you previously had not. Two years ago this month, ex-Vice President of the US, Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize for his documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth” which has led millions of people to think about their actions and thus behave differently based upon new thought!
So, as a sales professional, what is it that you think about each day? Pre-call preparation is an area that an overwhelming amount of salespeople could improve in. Do you want to know the easiest place to get started preparing better for every sales call? It’s in your thoughts. Those of you that have spent any time in my training know that ONE QUESTION can begin this process. That question? “What is the PURPOSE of this call?” By simply starting with that question, it will force you to think about what it is that you wish to accomplish on the sales call. Stephen Covey says that we need to “begin with the end in mind.”
Now, you need to go beyond the typical answer of the sales force: “We want to sell this guy something.” That is the reward for achieving the result that you seek. THINK! THINK! What is it that you need to accomplish? What is it that you need to get the customer thinking about? What is it that needs to occur for the circumstances (no decision to buy) to change in your favor (a decision to buy.) Below, I have listed a few thoughts that you may want to take into consideration before making your next round of sales calls. Turn off the TV (TIVO your favorites) for one week and spend your time with your thoughts. Instead of simply showing up for next week’s sales calls and “spraying and praying,” try giving some thought to the ideas below in advance so that when you open your mouth, every sound brings you closer to your desired outcome. Remember: Talking too much usually follows thinking too little.
Some thoughts to drive new actions, new behaviors, and hopefully new results:
“What is the purpose of this call?”
“What might this prospect/customer be thinking about me/my product today?”
“What are my prospect/customer’s highest value needs or most wanted outcomes?”
“What previous experience has this prospect/customer had with us in the past?”
“Where/who do they buy from now?”
“What is the benefit of ownership of my product that they desire most?”
“How much time does this person have to meet with me?”
“Who else is courting this prospect/customer today?”
“How long has it been since my last visit and what have I done since to add-value?”
“What did we talk about last visit and did I take appropriate action on it?”
“What can I bring to the table that the prospect/customer will value?”
“How can I position myself as a resource versus a vendor?”
“How can I communicate my expertise without bragging?”
“How can I get the customer to want to know more about my product/service?”
“How can I create a need where there may not be a perception of one?”
“What do I need to get this prospect/customer talking about?”
“What do I need to know that they haven’t shared with the competition?”
“How can I avoid talking about price until I establish value?”
“How can I position myself as an EXPERT?”
“What stories can I share to communicate value?”
“What names can I drop to add credibility?”
“What does the customer value more than price?”
“How does the competition approach the customer and how can I differ?”
“How can I OPEN the conversation in a more impactful way?”
“How am I prepared to address the most common of prospect/customer concerns?”
“What will I say if they DRAG me to price early?”
“What 10 questions do I seek answers to and how do I best ask those questions?”
“How can I ask for the business once I have earned the right to do so?”
“Have I practiced the time condensed visit just in case we run out of time?”
“What information do I need to get from the customer to build a better case of value?”
“What OPTIONS have I prepared so the customer will say yes?”
“Have I made it easy to do business with me?”
“Am I thinking from my point of view or the prospect/customer’s point of view?”
Can you imagine having the answers to at least half of these questions before you made each of your sales calls next week? Can you imagine the change in the level of confidence that you would bring to the market? Can you imagine the change in your level of credibility? Better yet, can you imagine how much stronger you will be and the better experience that your prospect/customer will have because of it? All this takes initially is thought! Turn off the TV and turn on your brain! Start developing a HABIT of running scenarios and thoughts through your head before showing up? Start THINKING like a customer and you will start increasing your effectiveness in your conversations with them. Dialogues will start becoming more meaningful and less about price. They will begin asking advice of you because they will start becoming more aware of the fact that they are in the presence of a professional.
Always remember that a man is not rewarded for having a brain, he is rewarded for USING it. Understand and remember that thoughts lead to action! Think better, act better, produce better, and earn better!
Or………you could make more cold calls!
The morning started at 5:30am at the gym. As I spent an hour on the elliptical machine, I caught my thoughts wandering toward the afternoon’s match. As I lifted some weights and stretched over the next 45 minutes, I found my actions focusing on how my swing would be later that day. On the way back to the office from the gym, I was mentally preparing the balance of my morning to best “stack the deck” for the competition to come. I thought about what to wear, what to eat, when to arrive, how to warm-up, and how to practice before starting. I thought about how I wanted to play each hole and where I would be aggressive. I thought about my previous few rounds and focused on what I had been doing great and not so great.
Although I did not plan the night before to spend the morning preparing for a golf match that could result in a few hundred bucks changing hands, the thoughts appeared nonetheless. It was during my review of these thoughts that I understood that I had developed a habit of thought when faced with an activity that required substantial results based upon my performance. Where did this habit develop? Through years of preparing for sales!
Every day, as a sales professional, each of us enters a competitive marketplace to face a variety of challenges to our success. These challenges come in many forms and the thoughts that go through our mind before we enter the marketplace DEFINE our actions and behaviors. Too often, salespeople enter the day’s activities in much the same way that many people enter the workforce; they just show up! The actions in which they involve themselves each day are not a direct result of conscious thought, but rather repetitious activity. They mindlessly go through the motions of making calls, leaving messages, visiting accounts, taking orders, and filling out reports. When the dust all settles from the day, the results are very similar to yesterday, the day before, and the day before that. As Earl Nightingale stated in his award winning audio, The Strangest Secret, “The opposite of courage is conformity.” In other words, we conform to the natural tendency to simply show up and do our jobs. The first thing it takes to get out of this RUT is to think!!
In a recent CEO workshop I held, one of the attendees asked me a question: “What is it, Gerry that you believe that you sell?” After pondering the question for a moment, I answered that when I am speaking from the stage, I am really selling new ways of looking at things or new ways of thinking! Before anyone can or will take different ACTION towards something, they must first think about it in a different way. Otherwise, there would be no motivation for the change in behavior or action! Think about it for a moment... every bit of information that enters your head comes with it the seeds of new thought and possibly newly directed behavior or action. When you are given new information, you think about that topic differently. When you view a documentary that provides a considerable amount of new information about a topic that interests you, your mind goes into a thought process that could potentially make you take action that you previously had not. Two years ago this month, ex-Vice President of the US, Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize for his documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth” which has led millions of people to think about their actions and thus behave differently based upon new thought!
So, as a sales professional, what is it that you think about each day? Pre-call preparation is an area that an overwhelming amount of salespeople could improve in. Do you want to know the easiest place to get started preparing better for every sales call? It’s in your thoughts. Those of you that have spent any time in my training know that ONE QUESTION can begin this process. That question? “What is the PURPOSE of this call?” By simply starting with that question, it will force you to think about what it is that you wish to accomplish on the sales call. Stephen Covey says that we need to “begin with the end in mind.”
Now, you need to go beyond the typical answer of the sales force: “We want to sell this guy something.” That is the reward for achieving the result that you seek. THINK! THINK! What is it that you need to accomplish? What is it that you need to get the customer thinking about? What is it that needs to occur for the circumstances (no decision to buy) to change in your favor (a decision to buy.) Below, I have listed a few thoughts that you may want to take into consideration before making your next round of sales calls. Turn off the TV (TIVO your favorites) for one week and spend your time with your thoughts. Instead of simply showing up for next week’s sales calls and “spraying and praying,” try giving some thought to the ideas below in advance so that when you open your mouth, every sound brings you closer to your desired outcome. Remember: Talking too much usually follows thinking too little.
Some thoughts to drive new actions, new behaviors, and hopefully new results:
“What is the purpose of this call?”
“What might this prospect/customer be thinking about me/my product today?”
“What are my prospect/customer’s highest value needs or most wanted outcomes?”
“What previous experience has this prospect/customer had with us in the past?”
“Where/who do they buy from now?”
“What is the benefit of ownership of my product that they desire most?”
“How much time does this person have to meet with me?”
“Who else is courting this prospect/customer today?”
“How long has it been since my last visit and what have I done since to add-value?”
“What did we talk about last visit and did I take appropriate action on it?”
“What can I bring to the table that the prospect/customer will value?”
“How can I position myself as a resource versus a vendor?”
“How can I communicate my expertise without bragging?”
“How can I get the customer to want to know more about my product/service?”
“How can I create a need where there may not be a perception of one?”
“What do I need to get this prospect/customer talking about?”
“What do I need to know that they haven’t shared with the competition?”
“How can I avoid talking about price until I establish value?”
“How can I position myself as an EXPERT?”
“What stories can I share to communicate value?”
“What names can I drop to add credibility?”
“What does the customer value more than price?”
“How does the competition approach the customer and how can I differ?”
“How can I OPEN the conversation in a more impactful way?”
“How am I prepared to address the most common of prospect/customer concerns?”
“What will I say if they DRAG me to price early?”
“What 10 questions do I seek answers to and how do I best ask those questions?”
“How can I ask for the business once I have earned the right to do so?”
“Have I practiced the time condensed visit just in case we run out of time?”
“What information do I need to get from the customer to build a better case of value?”
“What OPTIONS have I prepared so the customer will say yes?”
“Have I made it easy to do business with me?”
“Am I thinking from my point of view or the prospect/customer’s point of view?”
Can you imagine having the answers to at least half of these questions before you made each of your sales calls next week? Can you imagine the change in the level of confidence that you would bring to the market? Can you imagine the change in your level of credibility? Better yet, can you imagine how much stronger you will be and the better experience that your prospect/customer will have because of it? All this takes initially is thought! Turn off the TV and turn on your brain! Start developing a HABIT of running scenarios and thoughts through your head before showing up? Start THINKING like a customer and you will start increasing your effectiveness in your conversations with them. Dialogues will start becoming more meaningful and less about price. They will begin asking advice of you because they will start becoming more aware of the fact that they are in the presence of a professional.
Always remember that a man is not rewarded for having a brain, he is rewarded for USING it. Understand and remember that thoughts lead to action! Think better, act better, produce better, and earn better!
Or………you could make more cold calls!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
