I’ve received this same article twice this month: once from Terry Small – The Brain Guy and once from John Maxwell – The Leadership Guy, so I guess it’s your turn to receive it from me, The Sales Guy!  Enjoy!

Doing something for yourself is not a selfish act; it’s a sustaining act. In a university commencement address several years ago, Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, spoke of the relation of work to one’s other responsibilities:

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them—work, family, health, friends and spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls—family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.

I’m still learning importance of this rule and working on it.  This Summer Michaela and I will spend countless hours on our Harley’s carving roads yet to be travelled with friends and we will take another trip to Germany to visit family. Traveling to Germany refreshes Michaela and riding the Harley soul purges me.  So we do this for each other.

Make sure you carve out some time for yourself and those you love.  If you’re not carving out time to rest and replenish, to exercise, and to monitor your spiritual wellbeing, then eventually you’ll breakdown. When that happens you’re no good to anyone.

Greetings form Bogota, Columbia.  I’m here opening the 2012 World Sales Foum S. America tomorrow moring.  How cool is that?  I’m expecting 500 Sales Executives and Business Leaders hungry to learn from me and and other top Talent that’s been brought in for a full day of sales immersion in best practices.  I’m excited, and glad I can share that excitement with you.

You, know I’ve always said that “People do business with people they like and trust and my week in Columbia has proven that to be true here too.  I managed to take a few days to go exploring (this is a great place, you really should come) and of course discovered some of the local specialties.  One particular street had several vendors selling almost identical products, but in one of the shops was a particular sales lady, who wasn’t pushy, wasn’t aggressive, gave me some space and so I liked her.  Because I liked her,  I trusted her and because I trusted, I ultimately bought from her.  I can’t tell you what it was because it’s a gift for my wife Michaela and she get’s this newsletter too.  In the next letter, I tell you what it was and haow she reacted!

Anyway, the lesson here is smile, relax and be likeable. Your likeability is a direct measure of how other people feel about themselves as a result of the time they have spent with you. likeability doesn’t replace good sales process or having the right product at the right time, but when all things are equal, your likeability, as it did for this particular sales lady, will tip the scale in your favour.

How Likeable are you?  Get the free Likeability Quiz

Getting Inside The Mind Of Your Customer – Your Relevance Determines Your Revenue

I often ask people what they think “value” is.  I listen and then I explain to them why their definition just doesn’t matter.

As salespeople, we like to see ourselves as being very smart knowing not only everything about what we sell, but about almost everything else as well.  I’m absolutely convinced that too many people think that their primary job is to show up at a meeting and impress the prospective customer by demonstrating how much they know; most sales people today think they have to have all the answers and they believe that if the customer understands how smart they are, they buy from them.   I suppose all this preparation has some positive effect because it raises the sales person’s confidence and keeps them moving forward.

The problem with this, however, is that when they start thinking that what they know is the only thing they need to know, they run the risk of missing what’s really going on with the customer. In other words they run the risk of being completely irrelevant and missing sales that should be and could be theirs.  Customers don’t want to know how smart you are they want to know how well you know how to apply whatever it is that you sell to address whatever their particular need, want or problem

Remember: People buy outcomes, not products or services.

When I say that what we think our “value” is, is not important, what I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter what we think.  It’s what the customer thinks that is important.  Our entire sales call needs to be centered around helping the customer define the word “value” in their mind in relationship to what we’re selling. Customers will never buy anything until they have answered in their own mind what the definition of “value” is to them and why they think what they’re buying from us delivers it to them.

Our goal is to get  the customer to share that definition with us and in so doing get us on the same page with them.  That can only happen when we begin our dialogue with captivating questions; get them expressing what’s important to them.   Here’s the best part – they actually have the answers.  Yes, I said it, your customer already has the answer, but they might not know until you ask them for it!  And once they give it to you, it’s then that you can build a presentation that explains how your benefits provide the specific outcomes the customer is looking for.

The only assumption that is ever safe to make is that YOU KNOW NOTHING until the customer tells you what they’re thinking and why they are thinking it.

Far too many times in sales, we  rush into a sales call and start making assumptions as to what it is the we think the customer might see as “value”.  Yes, we can many times be correct, but we still have to get the customer to share it verbally with us.

Something amazing happens when the customer articulates what it is they’re looking for that helps them begin to see the need for the purchase; they literally discover new clarity about what they want.  Furthermore,  now that you understand what they really  want, not just what you assumed they wanted.  And because they have discovered it with you and through you, you become associated with it – you become part of the value.

To be predictably successful you, the salesperson, must take the time to engage with the customer in a conversation that gets them to share their needs and expectations regardless of what you think they are.   That happens around the questions you ask, not the pitch or presentation you make.  That’s how you get un-commoditized, that’s how you get inside the mind of the customer and create your value.

You Don’t Need To Know Everything  -  You Don’t Need To Prove How Smart You Are – Customers Have The Answers!

Asking for referrals is one of the best ways to generate warm leads from satisfied customers but most of us don’t do enough of it (and some of us don’t do it at all) because we don’t know how to ask in a simple way that doesn’t come across as pushy.

At the CAPS Convention (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers) a couple of weeks ago Stuart Morley of Morley Consulting shared an absolutely beautiful way to ask this essential question:

“Were you happy enough with the work I’ve done for you to be comfortable introducing me to a few a of your colleagues and associates.”

What a beautifully worded question.  What I like about it is that inside this simple one sentence question there’s a lot going on. Let me share:

1. It causes the customer to reflect on the value they received from you and increases the likelihood of being re-hired.
2. It harnesess the Law of Reciprocity, which basically says that when you do something for someone, they want to reciprocate and do something for you.
3. It plants a seed for future referrals.  Simply by asking for introductions you trigger the customer think about referring you at some future point in time when an appropriate opportunity presents itself.

Here we are in the Christmas Season and many of us are out visiting clients, dropping off gifts or just visiting to say “thanks for your business”.  Now would be a great time to ask for referrals using the simple sentence here.  You’re clients won’t be offended an you’ll be amazed at how many referrals you actually generate.  This will give you fresh fuel to get an early jump on next year’s new sales activity.

What’s The Best Medium For Communicating?

Have you ever fired off an email that was misinterpreted?  We all have. Email, text and voice are all valid communication methods, but there are times when one is most appropriate.

Text is great for logistics – where to meet and when, or to notify someone when you’re running late.

Email is ideal when you need to keep a record of your correspondence, or to communicate something detailed to a group of people.

And voice? Well, voice is for when you mean business. There is simply no emoticon in the world that can substitute for the real tone in your voice. Only 7% of what we communicate is verbal – 93%  is tone and body language, so if you have something to say, and you want to ensure that it’s received the way you intended it, pick up the phone and call. People will appreciate you for it.

How Do You Prepare For A Call – Are You In The Game?

The conversations with yourself are the most important conversations that you have.  Your self talk determines more about your outcomes than you might think.  So how do you prepare for a sales call?  What are the conversations you have with yourself and how do you get in the game.  Enjoy this new sales training video that explores your call objectives and getting in the game!

Want to meet Howard Olsen? In this fun and candid interview, you can get an inside look at what makes him tick, what he does, why he does and why that might be useful for you. Come take a listen and discover the genius and greatness inside you haw it might be released.  Who knows you might even get inspired!

From my friend Ray at instituteB

The devastating crisis in Japan and the honor with which the Japanese people continue to conduct themselves offers a lesson to the rest of the world.  Here are 10 Things we can all be positively influenced by:

1. THE CALM
Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY
Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY
The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE
People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER
No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE
Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS
Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING
The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA
They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE
When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly

Get Relevant And Keep Out Of The Sales Trap

Let me share with you the sad truth: Most business presentations are completely irrelevant.  Here’s how it normally goes.  We walk into a meeting and the prospective customer asks something like:  “So what can you for us?” or “What makes you different?”  or some variation of that.  Since the customer has asked us a question, we feel compelled to answer it.  So here’s what we do;  we launch into an amazing presentation so full full of impressive and compelling facts about what we do that we wow even ourselves.  The meeting concludes, everyone is enthused, we shake hands with the client and give ourselves a little congratulatory High 5 as we make our way back to our car or our office convinced that we nailed it and that we’re going to make a sale.    Days, maybe weeks go by and we realize that the sales process comes to an abrupt halt:  The phone doesn’t ring, they don’t return our calls and no sale gets made.  We can’t figure out what went wrong, it all looked so good.  

Here’s what went wrong.   Sometimes even the most compelling presentation often fails to hit the mark because it’s made way to early in the process.  Even the most captivating presentation made at the wrong time can be your biggest detriment to success.  It’s usually made long before we know what the client’s real need is, before we understand with any depth where they are coming from, what they need and what really inspired their interest to meet with us in the first place.  Remember:  Every customer buys for their own reason and people buy outcomes.  We were so busy telling them how great we are, that we never got around to understanding THEIR underlying “why” and the outcome they were after.  Even though we made a compelling presentation and the client was genuinely impressed we never connectected with their own unique situation.   In a word … we  were irrelevant.  

Here’s the good news: If you simply begin by trying to discover what your client actually needs wants and desires, without assuming that you know,  they’ll tell you.   To get there all you need to do, is ask them.  When that happens you’ll know what present and how to present it and you’ll be positioned as a trusted, relevant potential partner who understands them.  Remember this: Every human being on the planet including you, me and your customer hungers to be profoundly understood.  Ditch the pitch and get to a place of mutual understanding.  Selling  is a conversation not a pitch or an interrogation;  your thoughtful questions will be the sparkplugs of that conversation.  Your sales will be the fruit of that conversation.

You Are The Sale!

I’ve long been a raving fan of The HR Chally Group because their research on world class sales organizations scientifically validates the sales process and methodology we we instill into our clients.  One of the core assertions we make is that the key  differentiating factor that swings a customer’s buying decision is the salesperson him or herself.

In a recent article published by Chally they sate: “Sales and customer research conducted by Chally Group Worldwide summarizing more than 35 years of data reveals that “the sales representative ….  has become the single biggest factor (39%) in a customer’s purchasing decision.”    Customers expect salespeople  to transform themselves into professionals who are exceptional at identifying and satisfying their new buying needs

Here’s What Will Set You Apart

The following needs, in the customers’ own words, are:

1. Be personally accountable for our desired results.
   Customers are tired of pass-the-buck sellers. They do not want a salesperson to close the deal and run; they want to work with a partner who is personally committed to a successful outcome.
2. Understand our business.
   For salespeople to personally manage a customer’s results, they must deeply understand the customer’s business. This means knowing their competencies, strategies, challenges and organizational culture.
3. Be on our side.
   Buyers expect salespeople to be their internal advocates, manipulating their own company’s processes and politics so the customer gets what’s needed throughout the buying process.
4. Design the right applications.
   Customers want salespeople to think beyond technical features and functions to the implementa-tion of the product or service in the customer’s business environment. They want to know not just what the offering will do, they want to know what it will do for them.
5. Be easily accessible.
   They expect salespeople to be constantly connected and within reach, whenever and wherever needed.
6. Solve our problems.
   Customers no longer buy products or services; they buy solutions to their business problems. They expect a professional salesperson to diagnose, prescribe and resolve their issues, not just sell them products.
7. Be creative in responding to our needs.
   When they have a business problem and pursue outside assistance, it is because they perceive their problem as unique and not addressable with conventional solutions. Buyers expect professional salespeople to be innovators who bring them fresh ideas to solve their problems. Creativity is a major source of value in today’s salesperson.

If you want to win more sales, run circles around your competitors and get the excellent results obtained by World-Class Sales Performers, you need to impliment better sales process and then create environments where sales professionals can get creative within the context of your business so they can bring solutions to your customers.

If you’re looking for better sales process that supports the needs wants and desires of your customers, you may want to take a look at our High Output – The Three Truths of Selling – and Our Sales Blueprint.   You can find a copy of the Chally Report Here.