It was 4:45 pm, on a Friday. Abiding the cardiologist orders to take it slow and no straining, my husband took the elevator from our garage to our living area. Then I heard the elevator alarm go off and thought, “THAT little devil is playing with me!” And I kept about my unpacking, totally disregarding the alarm barking in the background.

#1 - Pay attention to that self-talk.

As a salesperson, have you ever heard that internal voice, your self-talk, say something to you and then ignore it? Maybe you’ve had a thought like, “You should follow-up with Mr. Smith who you met at that networking event.” Or, “I really want to meet John Jones because I’ve heard they are looking around for (your product or service.)” Then, you just go about your other things to do, but that voice continues to talk to you. Pay attention to it as it’s trying to send you a positive message.

I heard the alarm go off again and thought, “Hmm, what’s going on here?,” walking over to the elevator. That’s when I heard him yell, “Get me outta here!”

#2 - Stay away from the triplets, shoulda, coulda, and woulda.

Some self-talk just never stops does it? It just elevates itself into should, could or would statements. That can cause salespeople to talk even louder or more negatively to themselves. Most salespeople then add to the problem and get further stuck in negative land by adding the triplets, should have, could have and would have, into their phraseology. Word of caution: leave the ‘triplets’ home!

When I went to investigate, I found that the elevator had stopped just one foot of letting him off to our living area! It took two calls and ten minutes to the elevator emergency repair team before they returned my calls.

In the meantime, I had about 3 to 4 tools in hand trying to get the hinges off, or the latch hook off the door. We were both SO concerned about preserving the dang door that we didn’t consider the potential damage to my hubby’s health! We called our community police and they sent the lieutenant.

#3 - Use as many belief techniques as you know.
How many tools do you have on hand to identify and let go of limiting beliefs or negative feelings? These keep you from moving to that next level you want to get. There are many belief releasing tools. The Sedona Technique, Emotional Freedom Technique or one called Love Letters are just a few you can use.

Why so many tools? Sometimes one will work better than another at times. Sometimes it’s not just a friend you need to talk you through getting over a lost sale. Add a coach to your toolbox and you will move along much faster.

THEN finally with elevator tech on the way, the three of us decided to call the fire department. Since he IS scheduled for heart surgery, it MIGHT be a better route than waiting the hour. Within 5 minutes, three trucks pull up in front, with about 8 or 10 firemen (no hoses), who come through the front door.

#4 - To get unstuck, just get doing.

Besides the obvious and cliche “two heads are better than one,” as human beings, we have to get busy on the doing part.

If you are stuck in any part of sales reluctance, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to just get going doing something. Let’s say you procrastinate about calling on a certain prospect. Could you consider sending an email or a greeting card? Do it! Or perhaps you could call someone you know who may be able to ask for an introduction for you? Do that. If you do one thing - like call the community police - you’ll have momentum to do other actions - like call the fire department.

So lessons learned, 1- listen to your self-talk, 2- monitor self-talk so it doesn’t go the shoulda, coulda, woulda path, 3- consider a variety of options including a coach, to test and shift your beliefs, and 4- take it one step at a time and you will move more quickly to the level of success you want.

Taking what may seem like smaller actions actually do help you in selling to more people more often. Stay tuned for part two of, “Sales Performance of Top Salespeople.”

Sign up to receive a FREE Report, FREE ezine and FREE Teleclasses from Pat Weber - America’s Sales Accelerator Coach, specializing in Introverts and Shy people at http://www.prostrategies.com

Uncover your selling strategy with quick assessment tools at http://www.prostrategies.com/free/SalesAssess.php

Join me and guest speakers on my monthly FREE series of answering your questions about sales reluctance. Enter your question at http://www.askpatweber.com

My husband was stuck in our home elevator for 75 minutes. The inside elevator door latch had no hinge for him to grab and my attempts to remove the outside door hinges failed. A community police officer couldn’t budge them off either. And the eight firemen, who repeated all the same steps and more, could not free him from being stuck between floors.

#1 - Top salespeople recognize that a step back can be overcome by a step forward.

As a salesperson have you ever lost one sale, and then another right behind it? Or have you ever procrastinated on activities like follow-up or delivering a proposal or giving a presentation?

Maybe it was a situation of dealing with objections and you felt like you weren’t making any forward movement.

It may at times seem that all your efforts to help your prospect buy are going nowhere. Still you continue to take inspired action expecting positive results in the long run, by calmly taking a step back and looking at how you can entice your customer going on from this point.

Much calmer with about an hour having passed, my husband asked me to get the smallest screwdriver I could find so the firemen could hand it to him through the two inch opening between the bottom of the door and the floor landing.

#2 - Top salespeople stay focused on the customers needs.

By staying in touch with sales prospects, it may seem like you are not moving ahead. However, if you have your eyes on developing the sales relationship more than getting the sale, you will eventually move forward in the sales process; it is inevitable.

Assuming that as a salesperson you bring sales skills, product or service knowledge and excellent personal relationship skills, it could be just a matter of time, more the customer’s time, that you indeed have a new customer.

When you stay focused on the customer, you are most assuredly going to find a solution you can sell and they want to buy.

I did not hear my husband’s request for a small “Philips head” screwdriver, so two trips to the garage became necessary, and caused a delay in getting him out of the elevator.

#3 - Top salespeople that can distinguish hearing from listening, do more listening.

Listening is so critical. In an October 2005 article I wrote, there are 6 key “hearing aids” to listening. (Visit my wbsite and check out the Newsletters section and click on October 2005 issues to read this article.)

My clients often miss key or operative words in either their own self-talk, which they speak aloud with me. At times we may debrief a client conversation and we find that they may have also missed key or operative words with them as well.

With listening you will know how, when and what to respond to. If you only ‘hear’, you may miss valuable key phrases.

My husband fit his hands in the smallest of spaces to unscrew four screws of the latch box that was a foot above him. Then with a push on his end, a tug from the fireman on the outside, his smiling face was looking up at all of us. A couple of the firemen reached down and gave him a lift out of the stuck elevator.

#4 Top salespeople stay the course.

For salespeople, there is practically no better skill than focus and persistence.

Focus on helping to solve the prospect’s problem. This is different than focusing on merely getting the sale.

Persistence includes staying in touch with the prospect. In a recent survey, 80% of salespeople reported they find their follow-up skills are a hit or miss process. This behavior is inconsistent with persistence. So knowing how to follow-up easily, strategically and without feeling like you are bothering someone, is a key to the success of increasing your sales results!

Lessons learned, 1- take a step forward for every step back, 2- stay focused on the customer, 3- listen instead of just hear, and 4- focus and persist with each prospect.

Top salespeople do all of this and more. Move yourself into higher sales by adopting these beliefs and actions.

Sign up to receive a FREE Report, FREE ezine and FREE Teleclasses from Pat Weber - America’s Sales Accelerator Coach, specializing in Introverts and Shy people at http://www.prostrategies.com

Uncover your selling strategy with quick assessment tools at http://www.prostrategies.com/free/SalesAssess.php

Join me and guest speakers on my monthly FREE series of answering your questions about sales reluctance. Enter your question at http://www.askpatweber.com

Waiting for his flight home to Connecticut, my brother heard his name announced over the airport intercom system. As he walked to the counter by the gate, he knew he was in for some bad news.

His suspicion was correct. The attendant told him the flight had been overbooked, and asked if he would give up his seat for a $200 travel voucher. Tired from the long weekend and in no mood to argue, my brother just stood there, staring at the attendant.

Stunned by the lack of response, the attendant looked back at her monitor and began punching some keys. Smiling, the attendant looked up, “Actually we can offer you $250, and we will put you up in a hotel for the night.”

With this better offer, my brother realized that his silence had just put him into a game of “Deal or No Deal” with the airline. He began to consider the offer, but before he could reply the attendant had gone back to punching her keyboard with a new tenacity and determination.

After another few moments of unspoken arm twisting, the attendant, now visibly frustrated, looked up and said in a final offer tone, “Okay, we can offer you $350 and a free hotel room for the night.”

Satisfied with the offer, my brother replied “Okay” - his first word in this one-sided exchange.

Unknowingly to the attendant, my brother had been satisfied with her very first offer. He was simply taking his time to think it over. Rather than patiently awaiting his answer, or simply asking my brother if he was interested, the attendant took his silence as an objection and immediately sought a better deal.

Salespeople, too, are often guilty of giving into the pressure of silence. Like the attendant, they mistakenly interpret silence as an objection. Having a propensity to assume the objection is price-related, salespeople automatically sweeten the deal with free product, better terms or a lower price.

However, jumping to these conclusions and feverishly haggling is what hinders you from understanding your customer and ultimately making the sale. Filling the silence with incessant sales babble after you ask a question tells your customer that your interests, as well as conversation, is one-sided; you care more about making the sale than you do about understanding your customer.

A great sales conversation is constructed of two parts: the confidence to ask straight-forward questions and the resolution to patiently wait for the customer’s response. While most salespeople understand the right questions to ask, they do not have the confidence and willpower to allow the customer to answer. Instead, they fill the silence with sales fluff, and miss out on the opportunity of learning what really interests the customer.

If you ask a customer what he likes about a specific machine, don’t give in after a few moments of silence and start telling the customer what they should like about the machine. Wait for their answer. They may tell you that the size is perfect, or that they love how fast it is. Bingo. Now you know what interests the customer and how you should direct the conversation.

Oftentimes, you’ll find your customers are as uncomfortable with silence as you are. If you can summon enough willpower to await their response, you will find that their words will either close the sale or uncover the real objections they have.

There is great power in silence, if you know when and how to use it. Your silence shows your customer that you value their thoughts and concerns. It also shows your customer that you are confident enough in your product and sales manner that you don’t need to resort to sales babble to close the deal.

Remember, the purpose of asking a question is to hear the answer. Whatever response you get from your customer, you’ll find that their words were worth the wait.

Tom Richard has been called one of the youngest visionaries and avatars alive today. He has dedicated his life to spreading the joy that comes from discovering your true self and enjoying the rewards of operating at your full potential. With the Bolt from the Blue team, Tom represents the powerful generation of personal development and self-discovery. Visit us at http://www.BoltfromBlue.com to bear witness to a new experience.

Every salesperson has experienced the fallout from working in a profession with a bad reputation. Regardless of whether they sell cars, insurance, or cute, cuddly puppies, people seem to turn their nose with just the thought of talking to a salesperson.

I found myself in a situation that showed me exactly why salespeople are given such a bad name right after the death of my grandfather.

During my grandfather’s wake, a conversation with a commercial real estate agent took a sharp turn towards a crude plug for his business. Among mourning friends and family, and no more than ten feet from my grandfather’s casket, the agent reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a business card. Smiling, he said, “I would love to talk to you about a few commercial properties I have listed. Give me a call.”

The socially reprehensible gesture smacked me coldly in the face. I couldn’t stop staring at the card, wondering how I had found myself in this completely inappropriate sales moment. Was he really trying to sell me commercial real estate at my own grandfather’s wake? Yes, yes he was.

The sting of the situation lasted for several days. As I replayed the scenario in my mind, I suddenly understood why salespeople in every profession have such a bad reputation. Salespeople who see others as dollar signs and sales, instead of real human beings, ruin the reputation of honest, good-hearted salespeople. Sadly, it’s only a small fraction of those in the profession who make us all look bad.

The moment I realized this, I made a promise to take the moral highroad in my sales career, and I drafted my personal sales philosophy. While the sales profession as a whole may have a bad reputation, I realized I could take control of my own actions to build the solid personal reputation of a great salesman. My philosophy has two simple rules for treating my customer the best I can: provide value first and make a friend at all costs.

Too many salespeople forget what’s like to be one of our own customers. When you see yourself through the eyes of your customer, you quickly realize the need to always provide value first. Otherwise, your motives may seem completely one-sided and selfish.

With the definition of value changing from industry to industry, how do you know what is valuable? Simple. Providing value means giving your customers something they will appreciate; something they will actually thank you for. It means giving them something selflessly, without the guarantee of something in return.

Whether you are cold calling, networking, or working the phones, take a look at your contact with prospective customers. Are they thanking you for what you are offering them? If not, you need to change your methods.

Providing your customer with value on your first encounter shows them your true intentions to do what is best for them. This is what helps earn their trust and respect for you.

This first step is the easiest way to build rapport with your customer, and to build the foundation for my next rule, to make a friend at all costs.

Your customers do business with people that they like and trust as friends. Therefore, every conversation you have and action you take should advance your friendship with your prospective customer.

Focusing your efforts on making friends will liberate you from the mechanical sales tricks and stiff verbiage you have learned over the years. Boil things down to their core, and find simple ways to build real and meaningful relationships with customers.

Using these two rules helps you create a sales method that is simple and unique. When you know your customer personally, you can shape your method to their specific needs. When your customer knows you personally, you can dispel the bad reputation of salespeople, and make a great name for yourself.

Tom Richard has been called one of the youngest visionaries and avatars alive today. He has dedicated his life to spreading the joy that comes from discovering your true self and enjoying the rewards of operating at your full potential. With the Bolt from the Blue team, Tom represents the powerful generation of personal development and self-discovery. Visit us at http://www.BoltfromBlue.com to bear witness to a new experience.

Sales professionals waste time with prospects who are not going to buy. If you have worked
in the field of sales and sales marketing you have a story about the prospect who got away after
you had forecasted the deal would close. Not only had you forecasted the closing for this month but, you purchased that new 50″ flat screen TV based on the commission you would receive. How could I misread this prospect? He told me I had the deal. Why did he sign with my competition? These are the questions you ask yourself on the first day of a new month after you the missed your forecast.. The other question is how do I explain this to the bosses, the ones at work and the one at home? To prevent this from occurring again read the prospect’s signs and signals; stop listening to the
words coming out of his or her mouth. You have been reading signs all your life. When you were a child your parents gave you signs. You knew whento ask for something and when not to ask by reading
the signs and signals. When you drove your car to the office you read the signs in order to get to your
destination safely.We live in a world of signs and signals. Your prospect is no different; your prospect also gives signs and signals each time you speak with him or her. You just have to learn the language. You must read the signs to determine the outcome of your work. The signs are clearly posted and easy to read. Your prospect will use signs to denote his or her actions.

THE SIGNS OF A BUYER

Features
1st.-Is the prospect involved in the sales/buying

process?

A. Did the prospect ask for a demonstration of your

product or service? Or did you suggest it to them.

B. Will the prospect pay for a demo of the

product or service?

C. Had the prospect given you direction on how

to sell him/her?

D. Had the prospect gotten other members of their

/her team involved with you in work with your

solution?

E. Had he/she ask for references or site tours of

others using your product or services?

F. Has the prospect called you with direct

questions or did you call him/her to give

information?

G. Can the person that said yes to your agreement sign

your agreement.
2nd- - Have you solved the real-problem the company is

facing?

A. What is the impact on the prospects bottom-

line if he/she purchases your products or services?

B. What is the return on the investment of this

purchase?

C. What is the general rule for payback on

investment set forth by the CFO of the prospects company.

D. Have you discussed what happen after the

purchase is made.

E. Have you answered or reviewed the 14

question in concentrative-listening?

Action to be taken

1. When you can present your solution to the head not to
the tail.(we all know what comes from a human tail end)

2. Look for the real-problems to be solved not a symptom of
the real- problem.

(you don’t place a Band-aid on a gun shot wound)

3. Close often.

4. Take others alone to give you a reading on this prospect.

( before you married them you took them home to

mother)

5. Ask other sales professional that have sold or lost deals

to this prospect about their encounter.

(today’s environment requires a back-ground check)

6. Do you understand how your solution will effect the
prospect business both domestically and internationally.

(All medicines require instructions and will outline the

effect on the total body)
7. Do your homework before you meet the prospect, during
the process and just before the final close.

(See booklet on Concentrative-listening)

8. If you want to know something read the sign you can’t go
wrong .

FRANK MIMS V is a former Private Country Club Clubhouse Manager. For the last 20+ years he has earned his living as a career sale professional with the Xerox Corp., Wiltel/Worldcom and the Canadian based Mitel Networks Inc. an international communication company. He has sold in both the domestic U.S. and international markets worldwide with his focus on large enterprise corporation account penetration.
Today Mims is President of The Mims Morning Meeting a SALES SKILLS ENHANCEMENT COMPANY designing training technique for meetings to stimulate sales and productivity for sales and marketing organizations. He is also a guest lecture at colleges and universities. Mims is a master storyteller and the author of the soon to be publish book “THE BEST WAY TO GET ON YOU FEET IS TO GET OFF YOUR ASS AND SALE SOMETHING”. You can view some of Mims midget sales skills enhancement stories booklets online at http://www.mimsmorningmeeting.com

I recently was halfway around the world, meeting a new business partner, and found myself in the midst of a seller’s nightmare: I had to do an in-person prospecting call on one of the world’s largest banks, with an unfamiliar business partner, with no idea of the reason behind the cold call, or the people who would be there.

When I was picked up from the airport I was told of this meeting, and there was no one available to discuss anything with me until we were at the client site. Nightmare.

As we entered the building, I quickly asked the history of the prospect relationship, the expected outcome, and the level of the folks we were meeting with. The news wasn’t good: this was the first prospecting call and they weren’t sure who would be attending, but they hoped I could help them open the account by using my Buying Facilitation model to encourage a working relationship.

Great. Just great. Unprepared. No data. No strategic planning. The prospect would see an unknown vendor, coming for an unknown reason, dragging along a very tired - and unknown - foreigner. They’d most likely know nothing about my work, models, or books. They wouldn’t know how to differentiate me from the competition, or how to choose me.

What would success even look like? And other than what I’d read and heard about this Middle Eastern country I didn’t even understand the cultural norms of vendor/client communication, not to mention if my being a woman would be a negative.

THE NEED FOR —–FACE MEETINGS

When Dale Carnegie introduced the need for face meetings, face time was vital due to the difficulty in getting broad exposure for products. Now, we can take it for granted that the next seller who stands in front of our prospect - if we can even get an appointment! - will be just as charming, caring, well-dressed, smart, and professional. And if a personal relationship is the only criteria for a prospect choosing a vendor, then the seller has a truly long slog here, to find only those buyers with buying patterns and personalities that match the seller’s selling patterns and personality.

I don’t believe in using my body as a prospecting tool. I believe that if it’s important to a seller to have a face meeting, they should first become part of the prospect’s decision team and have already decided collaboratively, with the prospect, how they plan on working together and how best to use a face meeting. Then, a face meeting cements the relationship and brings together the rest of the decision team, even on the first meeting. Otherwise, the only prospects who will agree to a face meeting are those already in the market, and interviewing untold others. Not to mention that when several things seem the same, the only differentiator is price.

But I didn’t have much choice in this instance, and there was no agreement, action plan, or stated outcome that a prospecting call using Buying Facilitation would have ensured.

I realized that I would be out of control during this call, even if my training would solve their business problem: there was no prior decision on who should attend the meeting and an untold number of people from the decision team wouldn’t be present (and would need to be managed afterwards somehow); and if they were willing to see us on a cold call, they were certainly seeing others.

CASE STUDY OF —–A FACE-TO-FACE PROSPECTING CALL

Given that my choices were limited, our meeting proved interesting. I believe I made a difference in our ultimate outcome, but I’m not sure that a face meeting was any more successful than if I had used Facilitative Questions on the phone.

I’ll describe the face visit conversation, and then offer a mock Buying Facilitation conversation as to a phone call I might have had prior to the meeting.

Meeting

At the prospect’s site, a large man with a gentle persona, followed by a smaller, local, man, came out to bring us to a small office in which sat a very professionally attired woman. The large man sat down in a tiny chair, and the smaller man went behind a very large desk. As they introduced themselves, I barely had time to peruse the 2 business cards handed to me - the men gave me cards, but not the woman.

I addressed my first Facilitative Question to the man behind the desk: “How are you currently adding new sales skills to the ones you’re already offering your

staff?” I realized that I had addressed the question to the wrong man, as I noticed everyone looked to the large man in the small chair for an answer. I quickly glanced down at the business cards and noticed this man was the big big boss. He began telling a charming story of how he was just in the country for a few weeks, and newly brought in to head up this division and bring in new thinking. He said he was delighted that I asked that question.

OK. I was on the right track but there was a major problem: the local man at the big desk had been at the bank for a long time, and was the sales manager for 5 years. If he had been doing a good job, the new man wouldn’t have been brought in! Not to mention that the smaller man most likely had a team of loyal followers (in countries outside the US, folks stay at their jobs for decades) who would have some strong feelings about a new man, from another country, coming in with big ideas that would certainly change their status quo.

The problem was much, much bigger than needing new sales skills. All of the brilliance I offered would be moot if they couldn’t manage the internal politics that this problem created. And, obviously, I couldn’t manage the internal politics for them: while their Identified Problem was something I could solve with my product, until they could manage their internal politics, they weren’t going to take any action.

The internal problem

Once I recognized the elephant in the room, I decided to ask a tactical Facilitative Question to help my prospects begin to make sense of their main issue:

“Since you (the man at the desk) have been around for some time and have a loyal team behind you, how can you bring in new thinking (which he obviously had failed to do) that might represent change, and have the team remain loyal?”

The man behind the desk nodded:

“No problem. No problem. We can handle this. We are very excited to have someone new join us with new ideas. We look forward to change and hearing how you could help us.”

Right.

The boss quietly said:

“That is why I’m here: to bring in new thinking, and manage implementations. I’m sure that we can all get on board here and there shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve done this sort of thing in other banks, and we’ve been successful. I have met the folks here and they are great. It will be fine.”

OK. Now I had a larger problem. They were either really going to be fine, they were doing denial, or just giving me, the outsider, the company view. I had no way of knowing. I turned to the woman (turns out she was the training manager) seated, quietly, next to me and said to her:

“I’m so glad that everyone is getting on so well, and I’m sure that it will work out fine. I’m wondering what you would need from a vendor to ensure an easy implementation?”

She briefly opened her eyes wide, and —–quickly returned to her very very composed, professional —–behavior.

“Thanks for bringing that up and caring. I’m sure that there won’t be a problem, like the gentlemen said (smart woman). In case there is, maybe you could explain to us what you have done in the past when bringing in new material? And possibly give us a run-down on what you have that might be interesting to us to help us differentiate ourselves from our competitors, as I saw on your website (Ah. The woman had done her homework.)? If what you have has value for us, maybe you and I could have further conversations about the content. Along the way, if any internal issues come up - which I don’t think there will be - we can discuss them at the time.”

Good. I just got onto the decision —–team.

“Great. It seems to me there are several issues here. One: how will you all decide on the specific type of new thinking you would be willing to bring in; Two: how you’ll know that one specific set of skills would work better than another since you wouldn’t have a way to understand the outcome before you start; Three: how you could ensure, before you start, that a new skill set would work comfortably with that your folks are already using; Four: how will you know when it’s time to address implementation issues; Five: how would you know we would be the type of partner who could help you manage all of these issues?”

Follow-up action

The boss nodded vigorously and smiled. He asked me to write down the points I’d just made, email them to him, and contact him in two weeks to move the conversation forward. Sounded great - until I called him at the appropriate time, and he told me that he had handed everything over to the training manager. I had to ask permission to speak with her as no one had given me her number. I have left a message for her and have gotten no response yet.

I believe my ‘relationship’ with them all is as good as their memory. Did they like me? Appreciate me and my questions? Yes. Did that move the sale along? Not convinced - they still have too many internal issues to manage. And now I have to find ways to maintain the relationship and conversation, while living half-way around the world.

Because there was so much going on in the room, I’m not convinced they understood the difference between Buying Facilitation and a more conventional selling model. I have started a conversation, and we have developed some rapport. I believe they trust me a bit, and might consider a pilot - but I’m also sure they will pilot other programs as well.

Since I teach that it’s not necessary to make a face-to-face visit until the internal decision team has agreed to change and has a model for the specifics of how to bring in a new idea/product/vendor, I was curious if what happened in this interaction could have been managed better on the phone. I think so.

MOCK CONVERSATION OF TYPICAL BUYING FACILITATION SEQUENCE

I’ve never had a face meeting prior to signing a contract with a major corporation, and yet on a second or third conference call, I’ve met with the entire decision team and made collaborative decisions involving a great deal of buy-in and change. I will create a similar conversation here, much like I’ve done (literally) thousands of times before. Note the difference with the absence of the political issues, and how far I can get using these Facilitative Questions on the phone:

SDM: How are you currently offering new —–selling skills to your sales people?

Boss: We haven’t been. I’m just here a few weeks, and I was brought in to help us differentiate ourselves from the competition. I’m actually seeking new material to trial now as part of my purview.

SDM: That sounds exciting. What fun! —–What has stopped your group from achieving this until now?

Boss: The past manager was very good at keeping the status quo and managing the office politics. My job is to find new thinking and bring it in. Do you have something new for us?

SDM: Well, I’ve got a new sales model, but let’s discuss that in a few moments as I think there are other issues we’d need to manage first. I suspect you’ll have to manage some internal, personal issues with the old manager and his team with whatever material you choose. How would you need to work with a new vendor to ensure that you, the decision team, and the vendor, would all work well together while implementing a trial?

Boss: We’d all have to get on board here, make some team agreements, and monitor the implementation from the beginning. I would bring in the training manager to help with this as I believe her to be very committed to success. I’d also have to understand that your material, over the more conventional material, would bring me the new skills that I’m seeking while not creating too much confusion for our sales folks who have been using SPIN for a long time.

SDM: So as we move forward, we’d have to ensure that there is buy in from the decision team, and be aware of any danger signs. We could work that out between us. Before I give you data about my Buying Facilitation Method®, can you tell me what would new skills give you that you don’t have already?

Boss: We’re having great difficulty differentiating ourselves in this market: our products appear similar to our competitors, and clients don’t know how to buy us. We’ve tried educating them, but that doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in our numbers.

SDM: My model, Buying Facilitation, helps buyers know how to choose you over the competition. It’s a collaborative decision making model, rather than a product placement or problem solving model - it gives sellers the tools to teaches buyers how to buy, rather than approaching it through the product sale. How would you know, before we were to do a pilot, that you and the rest of the team would be willing to consider a model this unusual?

Boss: I’d have to understand it better, and the team would have to agree to consider it. How can we get a hold of material that would help us learn more about it?

SDM: In addition to sending you some reading material, I’m actually coming to that part of the world in a few weeks. I would love to stop in and meet with all of you. What would be the best use of our time together once I’m there? And, given all of the political issues you’re facing in your new assignment, who should be at the meeting, what would you need to see from me, and what sort of an outcome would we be seeking? I think it would be best to plan all of this before I get there.

Different outcomes

In my estimation, had I been able to use Facilitative Questions on the phone prior to our face meeting as I did in the mock conversation above, I could have helped the Boss recognize the internal issues (politics, relationship issues, and management issues, etc.) that needed to be managed outside of the purview of the Identified Problem and accelerate his decision cycle accordingly. I would have become his decision partner and eschewed the uncomfortable relationship issues that came up during our meeting. By the time it was relevant to discuss and pitch my product, he and the team would have been in a position to make a purchasing decision - or not, and I would have known that prior to making a face visit. [Note: Buy the book that breaks down the decision segment from the product sale segment: Buying --- Facilitation: the new way to sell that expands and influences -----decisions, at ----- -----www.buyingfacilitation.com]

Use face-to-face meetings to cement the decisions the entire decision team needs to make with you; use the phone to help the early decisions get made and the decision teams coalesce and start taking the action they need to take anyway. It’s the internal, unique, and idiosyncratic systems end of the buying decision that’s been hidden from us for so long, but is now able to be managed with the Buying Facilitation Method®.

The time it takes buyers to come up with their own answers is the length of the sales cycle, whether it’s a decision to buy an insurance policy or a company-wide implementation. By leading the buyer through the entire range of necessary decisions, you can reduce the length of the sales cycle by 75% and you can do much of this on the phone. By sticking to Dale Carnegie’s belief that sales calls need to be face-to-face, you’re 1. helping delay the sales cycle, 2. not getting to partner with the decision team in a truly supportive way until farther into the sales cycle than necessary, 3. wasting unnecessary time on prospects who won’t buy, 4. keeping yourself solidly in a price, product, and service competition, and 5. waiting in the dark as the decision team figures out the decisions they need to make that you could have sequentially walked them through much more quickly.

Use the phone as a smart business tool. Save the face visits for when it will actually support a closed sale with a ready prospect. Do you want to sell? or have someone buy?

Introduction

Influence is intangible. You cannot see it at work, yet it is all pervasive in any corporate organisation and Public Sector organisations are no different. In any sales situation, if we can identify who the politically influential people actually are, we can tailor our proposals to meet their needs as well as the needs of their organisations’. This can markedly increase our chances of winning the sale, particularly in a very competitive sales situation.

In our analysis we identify the politically powerful people as the “Influencers”. The routes to them we term the “Conduits”, who are people we can use to pass messages when we cannot get access to the Influencers directly.

The STRANDS

The “STRANDS” of Influence is a tool which can help in identifying who are the really influential people in any organisation. If we can test the way people respond in any situation and how other people react to them, we can start to characterise influence. The best times to do this are when there is great organisation upheaval or change (merger, reorganisation, downsizing, etc.). At such times influence becomes very much more apparent and easier to discern. For instance, the people with high levels of influence are usually the survivors!

However, in day-to-day activity, particularly when you are dealing with an organisation which you are new to, the STRANDS of Influence can be a valuable diagnostic tool. The STRANDS are separated into seven tests, each of which may help in finding either where the seat of influence lies, or useful connections to it.

For each of the tests, described in detail below, the sales team will need to take a view balancing what they know about each individual against each of the seven headings. They may base their views upon their own knowledge and observations. However, these views need to be checked against others in the client’s organisation.

The Tests

The seven STRANDS tests are pointers to where real influence may reside in any complex organisation. The same tests can also be used to flush out some suitable Conduits. However, some Influencers and Conduits may still be difficult to find if the relationships between people are not obvious. Nevertheless, the STRANDS will flush out the majority of the relationships that are important to the sales campaign and will provide a basis for greater insight into how the organisation actually works.

Status and Responsibility

Status and responsibility are a good starting point when looking for influential people. However, beware the “figureheads” and the high ranking academics who have no decision making powers whatsoever.

People who report directly to high ranking people may have a high degree of influence. We have all heard tales of the Secretary who had more ability to direct the organisation than his or her boss.

People who are high in the organisational ranks may have influence if they are climbing, but less if they are on their way down. Some people are placed into areas of lower than expected status so that they can get experience and prepare themselves for an important and significant future role. Here influence greatly exceeding that expected from the role may be clearly evident.

The Conduit may not have the status themselves, but they will be able to interact easily with one or more powerful people. The interaction may not be as a result of the work environment. Watch for links that may be through sporting or family connections.

Trusted Aides

Someone who has the ability to surround themselves with people they select and trust, maybe recruiting people with whom they have worked before, show signs of having influence. Of course, the ones they pick to surround themselves with are natural Conduits.

One other often overlooked factor is that the most powerful people need powerful allies. They are very often “Trusted Aides” of even more powerful people above them. Look and see who your target individual mixes with and who might be a mentor for them. Find out who their friends are and who are their allies.

Respect

Some people have “Presence” and you can feel it when they walk in to a room. As they arrive the room will fall silent until they are settled. Then the conversation will be directed around what they want and the order they want it in. This is a natural response to someone who has a high degree of power or influence.

The ones who are most openly deferential may be the Conduits. They may also be sycophants with no value in the sales campaign whatsoever!

Authorship

The most powerful people in an organisation are the ones who create the culture by generating the templates by which others manage their work. They are the people who agree the Mission Statements, Operational Policies, and put in place the fundamental internal processes.

The people who conduct their lives and businesses by these maxims are the Conduits. The test for both is to see if they know these policies and statements without prompting. The Influencers will know because they helped create them. The Conduits will know because they use them every day in their business.

Network

Knowledge is power and powerful people know what is going on all the time. They do this by creating information networks that reach throughout the business and even outside of it. They have many people in a wide range of positions who they can talk to and who feed them information, often entirely separately from the formal channels of communication set up within the business. Other less influential people outside of this network may know what is going on and, although they might not like it, they may be powerless to stop it. Such communications can completely bypass the formal authority structure even though the powerful person will know that this type of networking can undermine other, less powerful, individuals’ positions in the management hierarchy.

Of course, the Conduits are the end nodes of this network and they collect information and pass it on. By doing so, they strengthen their own positions.

Definition of Value

What is value in any business is defined by people within the business. In a commercial sense it may be profits or it may be the ability to remain trading. In the Public Sector it may be the recognition of top performance or the lowest staff turnover. Whatever the metric is used by the organisation to measure itself and, therefore, dictate the direction the organisation will move in, the people who define these metrics are the most powerful and influential.

Interestingly, if anything goes wrong, it is the same group of influential people who can rewrite history so that they never had anything to do with the failure. If it all goes right, then the powerful people somehow manage to get a share of the credit, even if they had been against it, or not involved, in the beginning.

It is this ability to define value and the redefine it if necessary which is the mark of a powerful person. The Conduit will be willing to accept these definitions and will be in the forefront of perpetuating them.

Success

To have any influence on the organisation, the person with the influence must be perceived as having a track record of success. The more influence they have the greater this perception will be and the longer the claimed timescale of successful performance. After all, no one will take notice of a person who has a reputation for failure.

This success may only be perceived success and not real. However, if they truly have the ability to disassociate themselves with failure, this may also be a sign of political power?

Conduits must, themselves, have a reputation for success. If they do not, no really influential person will go near them.

Triangulation Questions

What is difficult to do, is to ask direct questions to any individual about the level of political power and influence they might have. Even if you do, the answers might not be entirely true. We have found that to get more representative answers to these types of questions a technique called “Triangulation” can be used.

We know that asking people about their own level of power and influence in their organisation is unlikely to give useful answers. However, asking a third party, who knows the individual, is more likely to give value, e.g. asking “How much influence does Fred have over the committee?” is more likely to produce the answer “None!” than asking Fred “How much influence do you have over the committee?” if Fred actually has none. To get the best idea, questions covering all of the STRANDS should be asked to several different people to get a cross check of how much influence a particular person actually has.

Conclusion

The STRANDS is not a mathematical diagnostic tool. However, it is very useful to allow a sales manager or sales team to take a view on who they should be targeting their sales messages at and, possibly, the content of the messages. Use it as one of the tools in your armoury; you will be surprised and delighted with the results!

Sales Training

The challenge - how can a training department in a large U.S. insurer be a better partner to maximize sales?

Could these statements be coming from your organization?

“The training department has lost much of its focus in being a key partner to the Field.”

“We have become reactive, more administrative and thus less effective in helping Field Management accomplish their goals.”

I recently reviewed a proposal that was in its final stages before presentation to senior management. The report outlined a restructure and expansion of the learning department. The person leading the change wanted a set of outside eyes to read through it, what was missing, what might be unclear?

As you would expect, they had given much thought to the required re-engineering within their area. Equally as important, the author of the report looked at the critical interdependencies with other areas of the organization, including recruiting and selection and compensation alignment.

I liked the length they had gone to in obtaining input from field sales management and producers. They realized what ever path they went down, they had to put their client needs first and then integrate learning and development strategies as partners, not as head office experts.

I liked their recognition and emphasis on the necessity of coaching in the field, and the important role field management needed to play, especially with behavioural learning.

I liked that they understood the importance of identifying desired performance outcomes of all field positions so they could create appropriate learning programs.

What was missing in the report was any anticipated response to senior management asking, “How will we measure our return on the increased investment in this area?” Sure there was a budget, but there was no projected return. The working team focused so much on the detail they lost site of the big picture. If we do all of this, what happens?

This is the age old challenge, quantifying the learning investment is easy, tallying the return is much more difficult. Given the tight time line they were working to, my suggestion was to not dwell on precise dollar amounts but focus on the resulting benefits. Before doing so, I challenged them to have a hard look at the possibility of restructuring with no increase in complement, in fact could they reduce resources? A leaner and more productive learning group sends a loud message. It also allows the presentation to focus on the benefits of the proposed changes without the distraction of debate over need for increased complement. The key benefits identified were;

–Integration and alignment of head office and field mindset specific to performance outcomes - less duplication, time savings, faster implementation.

–Identify and leverage best practices, in the field and with external organizations - cost savings, productivity improvement, opportunity for recognition of internal excellence.

–Assess best fit for e-Learning solutions - not all development is suited for this medium - economic savings, ease of access, consistency.

–Recognize personal ownership for development - mindset of individual accountability is priceless.

The learning function of this company gets full marks for recognized the need for change. They understand the impact their department can have by becoming a true partner with the field. Once the learning team understands its role in helping the sales force fuel the revenue engine, field leadership will be asking for more. Keep your clients satisfied and life is great!

Clayton Shold’s mission is to help sales professionals make more money. He is a member of the Salesopedia community, “The World of Sales from A to Z”. Learn more at http://www.salesopedia.com

Wow, what a scary title! It’s not what most people believe to be true and it certainly is not something they want or expect to hear from a sales trainer. Yet there are two scenarios where it is definitely wise to be aware of this genuine risk.

The great news is that the disaster is completely preventable.

In the first scenario, there have been many times over the years where I, and dare I say, most sales managers have witnessed salespeople study hard, work smart and hard to rise to the top of their game only to quickly crash and burn. Their careers suddenly are over and they often don’t understand why. This condition is most likely to affect the younger people entering the business.

In sports it is referred to as the sophomore jinx. It’s when a promising rookie has a great year followed by something of a disaster. One contributing factor, in many cases, is a state of mind where the individual develops a King Kong complex. In this situation the individual sees him or herself as the best there is and on top of the world. They now resist and reject all coaching because they feel they know everything there is to know. Their ego is on steroids and firmly in control. We all know what happened to King Kong, don’t we?

To prevent this disaster, resolve to keep an open mind to new ideas. Remain humble, moldable and flexible. Our ego is a part of us, not all of us. Keep it in check. It doesn’t always work in our best interest. Remember, it is necessary for you to ’stay green in order to grow’.

In the second scenario, applicable to salespeople of all ages, the disaster occurs when life gets severely out of balance. Often this follows quickly on the heals of enormous success. It can be more prevalent when someone experiences this success after living a life of scarcity or middle class means.

A sudden jump in disposable income without the corresponding knowledge of how to safely adjust lifestyles to that income can be dangerous, even deadly. We work to obtain rewards. Sometimes the ‘rewards’ prove to be anything but rewards. We see people receive vast amounts of money and then party themselves into oblivion with excessive alcohol or drug use. We see people being so absorbed in acquiring ’stuff’ that they will squander their money or bury themselves in debt because they simply must have the latest ‘toys’.

Living a grounded, purposeful life that strives for balance will help anyone avoid this potential disaster. When obtaining sales training look for trainers and material that focus on the psychological tools needed to cope with successes and setbacks. These life skills are every bit as vital to your sustainable success as good closing skills.

We offer complete, powerful and very affordable computer based Mastery sales training for company and educator use. Available at http://www.sellingatmastery.com/

Individual salespeople wishing to Master their selling skills and those wishing to learn how to sell at mastery are invited to please visit http://www.salestraininghere.com/

Both sites offer free valuable training bonus resources just as a thank you for stopping by.

There is a very lucrative affiliate offer that you will want to check out because getting paid is good!

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Master salespeople are always looking for a performance edge. One of the tools that they employ is surveying their client base especially shortly after a sale is completed. National companies do it all the time. Some small companies do too. Most average salespeople don’t bother. That is a critical mistake and here’s why.

Surveying customers provides information that can be used to gauge product and sales performance for the future. It can reveal what is being done right and what improvements can be made. Surveys are most often conducted to showcase positive responses and to generate testimonials. That’s definitely a good thing, but the survey benefits certainly don’t stop there. By using this practice consistently the salesperson can gain valuable insights into product weaknesses or sales performances that did not create the best possible buying experience for the customer.

While surveying customers who buy your offering is the general norm, surveying customers who do not buy can be more rewarding in the long run. Few companies or individual salespeople make the effort to do so. The reason is simple. Most people don’t welcome negative feedback. It’s tough on the ego.

Get over it! If you truly want to improve your closing ratios, you will need to find out why your prospects didn’t buy from you.

Give them a chance to help you. Many of those lost prospects will provide you with great feedback, (even if you don’t want to here it) that will allow you to fine tune your presentations, your qualifying or your selling style and put you in that great position to close many more opportunities.

The fact that this act is viewed as a very professional one will be welcomed by most lost customers and may even set up new business opportunities in the future.

We offer complete, powerful and very affordable computer based Mastery sales training for company and educator use. Available at http://www.sellingatmastery.com/

Individual salespeople wishing to Master their selling skills and those wishing to learn how to sell at mastery are invited to please visit http://www.salestraininghere.com/

Both sites offer free valuable training bonus resources just as a thank you for stopping by.

There is a very lucrative affiliate offer that you will want to check out because getting paid is good!

We proudly offer a no nonsense risk free guarantee.

If you are serious about improving your sales results, earning more money and boosting your customer satisfaction record, you can’t afford to pass this opportunity up. Please visit us now! Get paid more, more often!