An answer for everything

Having an answer for every question will make you (the salesperson) feel great but doesn’t always mean you will get the sale. Often times, if said with incorrect body language and tone, you’ll come off as a know-it-all (jerk), especially when softening statements are under-utilized.

Understanding the intent of the question, the emotion, pain, and personal impact is galactically more important than answering every question like you are swatting flies. Prospects buy from companies that understand their pain intimately. This takes time. It’s uncomfortable.

It’s the opposite of you showing up and becoming prospect-google, believing if you answer 25 out of 25 questions without a single, “I’ll have to get back with you on that one”, they’ll sign.

Prospects buy emotionally. No emotion, no sale.

Xerox, you’re fired!

“No one will get fired for staying with or moving their business to Xerox”. – 1980’s

If you are facing a larger, more well-known company with longer tenure, this may be the three-levels deep reason why you can’t get into some accounts. Especially the larger ones.

Many prospects tend to deal with the same (large) companies, not because they offer the best product or service per se, but because of their long-standing reputation. Strength in numbers? Perhaps.

A strategically placed rock in the hands of an assassin can still take the Goliath’s down though.

Fixing weaknesses

In 2001, when I initially signed up for Sandler Training after years of reading every book on sales I could find, mail-order tape clubs, seminars, and rah-rah speeches…I was told by my trainer and eventually mentor Steve Herzog, “you are too analytical and have a huge weakness for money”.

“Can you explain”?

“You analyze and grind decisions to death for fear of making a bad decision, paying too much, and when people ask to think it over, you let them, because it’s what you do. You either want to buy something or you don’t. Can you not tell when you walk in somewhere whether you are going to buy? Also, you don’t like to talk about money because your parents probably told you not to and you grew up poor…so what, I had the same issues. In 2001, have you not figured out that to stay in business, most things are within about 5-10% of each other? Statistically, you are very rarely going to get ripped off, but you grind over that tiny savings that took you weeks to get. It’s a waste of everyone’s time”.

With frying-pan-to-face, I was instructed to buy things without weeks of research and going to 5 different places, because when prospects told me they wanted to do this, I understood it, and ‘let them’. I thought I was being helpful, but instead, I avoided hard questions trying to be nice, hoping they liked me, and thought in the end, they would go with me because I knew everything technically + the nice part. Always be nice.

My first foray was purchasing a new, large TV (my first flat screen) for the bedroom. Normally, I would have researched articles for weeks, beat Best Buy, Circuit City, Crutchfield, etc., out of all of their product knowledge, asked for brochures, and then when the stars aligned, bought. Huge decision, right? Not really.

I decided to go to the HH Gregg near my house. I ran into my twin, a kid who was an expert, analytical, and was very nice. I told him a few of the things I was looking for and within 10 minutes, I was paying for the TV. He was as shocked as I was at the speed of my decision.

When I told the young salesman my revelation, he explained how he could never do that…but by the end of our conversation, understood how many people he was losing by letting them walk out the door and giving all of his knowledge and research away, for free.

“The reality is…by the 3rd week, and last stop, people just buy out of exhaustion. I believe you can help them and you by changing your approach”.

In 2009 my TV crapped out, but it’s replacement was bought in the same exact manner. Every now and again, when I look at it, I’m reminded of the lessons Steve taught me:

• Be decisive, grinding is a waste of time.
• Trust people that display a wealth of knowledge, let them do the work for you.
• People don’t buy from the nicest person always, they buy from the one that listens and helps them make decisions faster.
• Stop spending time and energy trying to save pennies while missing out on doing valuable things that help your career, your family time, or your sanity.

Hesitation

Presenting (which should be your final step, not first or second) to people that are empowered to say NO, but never YES, are experts at saying just enough to give hope, but are vague with what will happen next.

The ‘move’ is to always set a next meeting. Any hesitation… you’re toast.

Winning and Losing

Haven’t we all had a few easy sales in our career?

What happened?

Why can’t this happen more often?

Do you remember what it looked and sounded like?  I’ll bet an Applebee’s trio dinner your prospect talked a lot more than you and felt like they sold themselves.  And therein lies the key…getting out of the way, and more, facilitating a meeting, not actively pushing an agenda.

Losing… is getting gassed from talking your prospect to death about all of the product benefits, technology you employ, and then stiff-arming them into a commitment.

Winning…is asking questions, lots of them, and then watching them sell themselves on the why (which is the most powerful question to ask).

Losing…is sending them brochures, leaving long, drawn out ‘solutions’ on their desk as you exit.

Winning…is walking in empty-handed and listening (think therapist).

Losing…is opening with boring presentations focused on you hoping something will stick.

Winning…is opening with a short commercial on what you do and then digging into why they may or may not be a great fit for what the services/products you provide.

Memorizing closes or phrases to manipulate prospects to respond in a certain way will ultimately feel manipulative, despite all of the sales books and articles that preach these “what if we could do x, will you do y”, scenarios.

The uncomfortable truth is, it takes a ton more skill to patiently listen, not with the intent to respond, but to understand, than it does to memorize sales lines  This is why, at least for me, selling is usually pretty fun.  Get addicted to learning personalities and helping people, not just selling a product or service.

 

The Sympathy Close

I swear, if I read one more article or have to sit through another second-hand story about a boss telling his rep(s) to buy, read, study, or memorize a bunch of closes…

I could write ten articles on this, but the long and short of it is, the opening is where the action is, not the CLOSE!

And while we’re on the topic of Closing, which I believe is pure grease to a customers ears…stop with the Sympathy lines.

They don’t work (unless you are selling a commodity and it’s really cheap).

Customers don’t care about your quota, the trip you might win, your bonus, and believe it or not, how you “feed your family”.  

In fact, when you talk about these things on a sales call, they often think less, not more of you.  Customers like humility, not charity cases.  They like to buy from winners, not perpetuate those on permanent losing streaks.

Customers (only) care about their family, their vacation, their sales numbers, their bonus, and how they can increase efficiencies or save money.  That’s it.  That’s their language.  If you speak it, they will buy.  If you don’t…

 

The Home Field Advantage

It shouldn’t shock you that the incumbent, your competitor, always has the upper hand.

Call it a relationship or home field advantage, either way, it exists…so don’t think because you are meeting with their customer, the prospect will change easily, even when multiple problems exist.

If your normal tact is to out-relationship the guy that already has one, you better be damn good at it because 94.3% of the time their current provider, 1) has a better, longer, and more detailed relationship, 2) always get a chance to fix things even when they have screwed up repeatedly, 3) has one or multiple people that love them.

Have you ever heard of a prospect calling your competition and saying “Bill, we’ve had two lunches, a round of golf, and the best presentation on widgets I have ever seen, and to boot, we got an amazing price.  I just wanted to let you know…you’re out.  If you can come by early next week and pick up your stuff, it’s been nice working with you”.

I know…never happened to me either.

Instead Bill will get three chances to right the ship.  You know the routine by now, right?

1. Bill will (try to) take care of the issue himself.
2. Bill will throw more/different people at the problem and/or cut the price.
3. Bill will cut the price and beg…”after all these years and all we have been through”.

Ignoring this reality, as many salespeople do, will put you in a place my sales mentor dubbed, “Hope-uh, Hope-uh land”.  Hope-uh, Hope-uh land is a wonderful place abound with rainbows and unicorns where prospects buy because you are a nice person, your features and benefits are amazing, and they always tell you the truth about how they buy because…it’s only fair.

If you are afraid to tactfully discuss the home field advantage and/or your prospective customer won’t discuss it because, “…it really doesn’t matter, you just tell me what you can do”…enjoy your magic carpet ride.

By the way, a tie means they win.

Good selling!

Sales quickie #4

People that actually want to do business with you never say, “it sounds like you don’t want my business”.  It is a positional move they pull when you aren’t acting like a lap dog.