The confident sounding customer

November 12, 2011 Leave a Comment

Torsten was driving. We had left Bielefeld in the North of Germany that morning in his fast Audi A6 Avant. We made great time and I thought we would be early,that is until we got closer to our destination in Southern Germany. I recognized we had become lost. The signs were all there:

1. Male

2. Unwilling to look at a map or

3. Ask for directions.

“Torsten, let’s stop and get a map or ask someone? We’ll never find the place at this rate.” Torsten only growled at me. He was lost in his own country, this must have been too painful to admit.

Torsten was a big German. When he spoke it was with resonate confidence. “We are not lost”. This was said as if it were a statement like “German’s love beer”, something that could not be argued with.

“Torsten, we need to stop at the next gas station. I need to, you know, go…”

Torsten waited in the Audi. When I got inside the gas station I bought a map. Studied it and saw how to find our destination. I never intended to use the restroom.

When we were back in the car, I casually suggested a course change as a “hunch to humor me”. Which Torsten accepted and we arrived only a few minutes late. I never told him I “cheated” and looked at a map – it was just luck. His pride never had to suffer.

How often is it that a logical decision is never arrived at because someone is too proud to admit they don’t know or don’t know they don’t know?

How often in sales, in life, do we encounter someone who resists what seems like a very logical choice? They give you all the signs of confidence in their “no” position. And they can’t admit the real reason they can’t move forward. To cover up this not knowing or being able to see, they create all sorts of pride protecting narratives.

Confident sounding and acting customers have fooled many salespeople. With both salesman and customer too often losing.

That day I was able to help Torsten find the way. It helped that I was in the car and could see we were lost. Recognize the signs by positioning yourself to see beyond your customer’s confident assurances. Be ready to provide a replacement narrative.

Filed under Sales, salespeople, Selling

Don’t tell prospects they have made a mistake

July 1, 2011 Leave a Comment

When we make choices we like to think we have made the best possible decisions with the information available.  Maybe it was the choice of a new IT services vendor for example.

It amazes me when salespeople with a competing vendor tell the prospect “what a mistake you’ve  made” going with the competition. And telling in painstaking and exacting detail of the supposed folly.

If the best possible decision was made for the choice of vendor, how could it be a mistake?

Implying or pointing out to a prospect that they have made a “mistake” or “poor choice” is likely to produce a “defend the decision at all costs” response from them.  And once they are defending, the salesperson pushing harder only hardens the prospect’s defense. Sale lost. End of story.

A more successful strategy for a salesperson with a competing offer would be agree with the prospect that they made a good choice based on the information available, but now there is  “new information” to consider.  New information which translates into improved benefits or a better value means a change in vendors can be made without anyone being made to feel stupid.

If your offer is compelling you stand a good chance of making the sale.

Filed under Sales, salespeople, Selling Tagged with , ,

Why shouldn’t no be what salespeople want their customers to be saying?

June 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

Why is no such a bad word for salespeople?  Why shouldn’t no be what salespeople want their customers to be saying?

First we need to set the stage for no. No has to be the automatic default when it comes to buying.  While we need to buy things, we can only buy a small fraction on all the possible things there are to buy regardless of how much money we have.

Take something as simple as coffee. You say yes to a Starbucks decaf Grande. But you have to say no to Peet’s, the Maxwell House, to McDonalds, to hundreds or thousands of other possible brands, varieties, sizes. The Starbucks might also mean no to tea, Coke, etc. One yes, a heck of a lot of nos.

Most people and organizations do not have unlimited resources, so no is also a function of living within a budget and taking care of what is considered important. What is valued.

No, should not come as a surprise.

Most of us want our customers to stay our customers, loyal customers that appreciate our solutions and service. Customers that buy year in and year out. That would mean that your customer has to be saying no to your competitors.

Customers that are too easily convinced to try something different are likely to continue to be easily convinced to try something different. That means if you are easily in, you are likely to also soon be easily out.

When you are looking a solid no in the face you might just be looking at a customer that once sold stays sold. Yes, you have your work cut out. That what sales is all about.

Filed under Sales, Selling Tagged with ,

Desirable attributes of salespeople.

June 29, 2011 Leave a Comment

Not in any specific order.

  1. Treats everyone, everywhere, all the time, with respect and courtesy. From the receptionist at the client’s office, to the clerk at the grocery store. Does not have to “turn on” being interested in people when making a sales call.
  2. Always is qualifying and requalifying – relentless.  Minimizes making assumptions. Is rarely blindsided by change as the change was anticipated. But when faced with the unknown will dive in and make the most of circumstances  encountered.
  3. Lives by the 80/20 rule. The clients will be doing 80% of the talking. Has the ability to shut up.
  4. Is an engaged listener. Asks questions related to answers. Does not interrogate. Sales are made in conversation, not lectures.  Turns presentations into conversations.
  5. Benefits and value are the core concepts used to close sales. And the only benefits offered are the benefits that address the expressed needs of the client – always judicious when talking benefits.  Establishes value before price is discussed.
  6. Uses stories and metaphors when ever possible to illustrate points.
  7. Is honest – but does not go into describing the workings of the “the sausage factory.”
  8. Stays calm. Remembers to breath.
  9. Knows and believes that clients need strong, profitable vendors that are in a position to provide after-sales, support.  Does not become kidnapped by a customer’s or prospect’s one-sided point of view.
  10. Takes care of his or her health. All things being equal, the salesperson who is rested, fit, and nourished has the advantage.
  11. Has a life in balance. Even if work is the most important thing in the salesperson’s life, knows that effectiveness will be increased with time spent not working – recharging.  Obviously there are short periods of time that one can maintain “heroic” behavior. But heroic behavior should not the rule.
  12. Has a strong desire to learn, to understand. Is very curious about just about everything, especially prospects.  When practical researches clients before engaging them.
  13. Reads widely, reads often.
  14. Understands that management is a customer too. And management also needs to be sold.
  15. Does not do prima donna.
  16. Gets an intense high when closing a sale. Might not be able to admit that a closing business high is better than any other high.
  17. Influences the  influencers.
  18. Learns and works with the prospect’s buying process.
  19. Avoids using force to close a sale. Knows that force can create needless resistance and can jeopardize current and future business.
  20. Is authentic. Not a clone of someone else. When you start out in sales one might channel the energy or patterns of other salespeople you admire or respect, but this should quickly melt away as the authentic person shows up.
  21. Follows up.
  22. Has goals beyond any goals provided by others.
  23. Has common sense and makes use of it.
  24. Not every customer can or will say “I want to buy”,  asks those that don’t.
  25. Considers objections as a sign of interest and an opportunity for better understanding the prospects needs.
  26. Knows that working with people means politics and politics means paying attention and taking nothing for granted.
  27. Might not forget but forgives and forgives rapidly and often.
  28. Strives for excellence, not perfection.
  29. Remembers to be grateful and express it to clients, colleagues, spouses etc.
  30. Has a sense of humor and can laugh with his customers and at him or herself.
  31. Is willing and able to ask for help or coaching.
  32. Creative and free thinking. An idea generator.
  33. Considers “no” to be a temporary state of mind.
  34. Assertive not aggressive when working with people.
  35. Confident without hubris.
  36. Has a Pollyanna tattoo. Always optimistic, the bright side is the only side.

Filed under Sales, salespeople, Selling Tagged with , ,

Stop telling and start asking at trade-shows

May 31, 2011 Leave a Comment

Trade-shows are one place where sales people are gathered in numbers that can be in the thousands.  Trade shows are also a place where you will find some of the worst sales skills on display. I make this observation after attending hundreds of conferences and trade-shows, across many industries over the years.

There are too many sales people that are paying too much attention to colleagues, cell phones, notebook computers and just about anything other than potential clients.  Then there is the body language that says, “I don’t want to be bothered” or “I wish I was someplace else” or “I could care less.”

But maybe the worst characteristic of all is the demonstration of a complete lack of basic sales skills practices. Often the form of engagement by the salesperson is a recitation of the products features they are representing or attempting to represent.  ”Let me tell you all about the 100 important features of the XYZ Widget,” without knowing who they are talking too or why the person stopped by their booth.  A prospect showing interest or stopping at your booth is not the beginning and the end of qualification.

Exhibiting at a trade-show can be a very expensive proposition. Everyone who works a trade-show exhibit should be ready to sell. By that I mean being able to engage in conversation, ask basic qualifying questions and be completely focused on their quests or visitors. Selling does not mean knowing everything and being able to answer any question. It does mean being interested and enthusiastic.

Selling means find out who it is you are talking to: an existing customer, a competitor, member of the press, buyer, tire kicker, job seeker etc. Then to discover why they are there.  If you know who they are and why they are there, you can start to talk about how you can help them.

  • Act like you want to be there.
  • Engage with the prospects.
  • Stop telling and start asking.

Filed under Sales, Trade-shows Tagged with , ,

You are born naked

April 26, 2011 Leave a Comment

You are born naked. And that is just the beginning. In addition to diapers, you are going to need all sorts of things as you make your way through life: a crib, beds, baby food, hamburgers, cookies, cars, chewing gum, tooth paste and the list goes on.You go to the grocery store and there you encounter selection. Choice. You must decide. Organic milk from cows or maybe soy milk? If cows milk, 2% or 1% or?  And there are the brands of milk. And even before you get to the store there is choosing the store. The brand of gas. The make, model, color, options of your car, or motorcycle, or bicycle.It is advertising that comes to the rescue. It helps equip you to decide. Even if it is just to hate a brand’s advertising and to drive you into the arms of a competitor’s product.

If you were hungry and came to an intersection with a McDonalds, Jack-In-The-Box, Burger King and Wendy’s – how would you choose or choose to continue by?

In most cases you are going to choose a brand that you are comfortable with. This comfort will develop over time. And you will be influenced by friends and coworkers who were influenced by advertising.

All day long you are making decisions about the things you need to buy to make your life more enjoyable or maybe to keep you alive.  Love, hate it, be indifferent to it, rebel against it. Advertising still serves the purpose of helping you decide.

Filed under Advertising, Marketing Tagged with ,

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