Sales Performance Motivation

This blog has moved to www.saleschannel-europe.com/blog

2010-04-06T20:59:00.003+02:00

This blog has moved to www.saleschannel-europe.com/blog
All posts after 30.03.10 can be found at the above address.

Selling to Different Behavioural Styles: Options vs Procedures Preferences

2009-10-19T11:57:00.024+02:00

Have you ever been really excited about something and ready to buy and then the urge suddenly faded away? Or have you ever presented a highly compelling new offering to a client who got really interested by the different options and choices you presented, only to find that in the end nothing happened - no sale.

Why? Often it is because we think that all people are like we are. We think that everyone sees the world through the same blue goggles that we do. If we get excited by lots of different and compelling options we think that they will to. Here is the problem: a lot of people (as many of 40% of all people) have a preference for procedures rather than for options. Most people have a dominant preference for one or the other and some have a preference for both. What are the implications for influencing others and for sales?

1) Options Preference: People who have an Options preference are motivated by opportunities and possibilities to do something in a different way. They are thrilled by unlimited possibilities and ideas.

When selling to an Options person the goal is to get them to think in terms of possibilities. Give them lots of alternatives. They want to examine all the reasons why they should buy. An Options person is motivated by choice, unlimited choice.

Don't make the fatal mistake of using this approach on someone with a Procedures Preference. Want to know how you can avoid doing this?

2) Procedures Preference: People with a Procedures preference like to follow set ways. They are interested in how to do things, not in why things are the way they are.

When selling to a Procedures person the goal is to get them started on a procedure because they are compelled to complete it. They want to see a clear step-by-step procedure to follow. They don’t want to be shown several ways of doing something. They want one way, the right way. Show them how to buy.

Identifying Behavioral types:

Options people: Are excited by choice and possibility. Have trouble following set procedures

Procedures people: Prefer to follow tried-and-true set ways. Get stumped when they have no procedure to follow.

Influencing Language:

Options: Opportunities; variety; unlimited possibilities; lots of choice; options; break the rules

Procedures: The right way; how to; tried and true; speak in procedures: first ….then …. lastly

Mobile Phone Retail Sales example:

“The first step is, I’ll show you the latest mobile phones that we have available today that match your usage criteria. Then you can take a good look at them, I will show you how they work and you can try them out. You can then decide which one you like best. After that, I’ll explain how the payment plan works and set up your new phone in our system for you. Then all you need to do is sign your new Service Agreement. Lastly, you can take your brand new mobile phone home with you today, all set up, fully operational and ready to go. You can start using it immediately without any hassle or delay. Are you ready to get started?”

Based on ideas from the book "Words That Change Minds. Mastering the language of influence." by Shelle Rose Charvet

The Buyer’s Journey

2009-07-01T07:57:00.026+02:00

The Sales Cycle is dead. It has out lived its usefulness. Why? Because the sales cycle is all about us and our interests and not about the customer or his/her interests. The sales cycle is something that we do to the customer and not for the customer. We have all seen sales cycles that were driven by internal factors such as making the end of the quarter number or additional discounts designed to stimulate demand to offset a short fall in sales. This is about us and not them.

Consider the various steps of the sales cycle: Prospecting, Qualifying, Needs Identification, Proposing, Negotiating and Close. This language describes where we are in a series of actions that result in ‘closing’ the prospect.

The world has changed, things have moved on. Today, success in sales is all about understanding how people make buying decisions. The Sales Cycles has been replaced by the Buyer Decision Process. The good news is that there are 5 simple steps in the Buyer Decision Process and they always occur in exactly the same sequence. So then success in sales today comes from understanding where your prospects and customers are in the Buyer Decision Process and helping them move to the next decision step. Success in sales today means helping people to buy. ie. Put yourself on the same side of the table as them. This means replacing our traditional selling-centric paradigm with a buying-centric paradigm.

The 5 steps of the Buyer Decision Process*:

1. Person: You must always start here to create trust and personal credibility. The buyer won’t go the next decision step until you have successfully completed this step.

2. Company: ‘Sell’ your company before you start to ‘sell’ your product or service. Over look this step at your own peril.

3. Product: Many of us start here and spend most of our time on this decision step. Why? Comfort factor, probably. We understand our products and services, and we want to show our people how knowledgeable we are. In reality, most buyers today have done extensive research online. They know exactly what they are looking for and often they know as much or more about a specific product or service than we do.

4. Price (Value): Most buyers have done their homework and know exactly or have a very good idea what prices are and which products and services fit their budget and which one don’t. Help buyers navigate this step by validating their product choice and advising them on different options, packages, service bundles that will deliver superior value to the bottom line in their usage scenario.

5. Why Now? This is where you can be of real service to your prospects and customers. How often have you seen a prospect fly through steps 1 through 4 of the buyer decision process only to arrive at this step and suddenly get stuck in ‘inability to make a decision’ or ‘indecision to take action’. Your role here is simple. Create a sense of urgency by pointing out all the reasons why the buyer needs to take immediate action and more importantly help the buyer to calculate the cost of indecision or delay.

Remember. Everyone goes through exactly this decision process when making a buying decision. All you have to do is determine where they are in the process and provide the required information by asking insightful diagnostic questions that will help move their thinking to the next decision step in the process. Do this and you will add value by helping your prospects and customers make logical, rational buying and investment decisions. Use the Buyer Decision Process and your prospects and customers will reward you with more and higher value buying decisions.

*based on ideas from the book: Action Selling by Duane Sparks, The Sales Board, Inc.

Unlocking Audience Participation

2009-05-17T22:15:00.014+02:00

Have you ever sat through a really bad presentation, meeting or workshop? I guess we all have and more often than we wish to remember. What was it that made it bad? Now think about a really great meeting, workshop or presentation that you have attended recently. What made it great? What were those things that made it successful? Somewhere on your list will be involvement and audience participation. The signs of a highly successful meeting are the quality of discussion, the exchange of ideas and points of view, and the sharing of knowledge and experience, in short audience participation.

How do you unlock audience participation?

Start with the End in Mind. What are your desired outcomes for the presentation, meeting or workshop? List the Top 3 objectives you have as outcomes of the meeting. Think carefully about this when choosing a name for your presentation, workshop or meeting. “Quarterly Business Review” sounds like exactly that. A meeting who’s title is “Identifying and finding ways to remove costs that won’t negatively impact revenue growth” creates a totally different perception and expectation about the desired outcomes of the meeting. Set expectations upfront and challenge your audience to find at least 3 personal “Take Aways”: actionable ideas that they can put to work immediately.

Engage them immediately. Skip the personal introductions and normal meeting protocol. Go straight to your desired outcome and your expectations. Connect with your audience immediately by soliciting their ideas, input, agreement/disagreement, opinions and feelings. Encourage interaction and exchange of ideas. How? by asking questions. By asking for their opinions, asking for examples and stories that illustrate a point, or simply asking for their validation of the item being discussed. Get them involved and keep them involved through frequent and continuous inclusion.

Think like a Facilitator. Use “the answer is in the room” thinking. How? Don’t answer the question, put it to the room. What is the difference between a Presenter and a Meeting Facilitator? When running a meeting or a workshop you are not a subject matter expert, you are a process expert. Your role is to liberate the tacit knowledge, opinions and collective experience of all participants. Leverage the power of simplicity. Speak less and say more. Remember, briefness equates to effectiveness.

Maintain Momentum. Use stories, storytelling, anecdotes and humor to keep things moving. Energy and engagement tend to drop off after a while. You can avoid this by telling stories and encouraging participants to tell stories. Relevant stories embody key ideas and are memorable. People love stories, they engage us and they energise us. Start building a library of personal stories that you can use in your next workshop, meeting or presentation.

Finish Strong. Review key actions, learning points and agree next steps. Summarise their ideas; recognise the value of their ideas. Point out the positives, build on them, test and challenge them. Invite comments and inclusive group discussion. Do this and you will make your presentations, meetings and workshops productive, constructive, energising and highly memorable.

Adapt your Selling Style to Today’s Buyer Thinking

2009-04-04T16:23:00.004+02:00

Buyer thinking has changed, forever. Pre-economic crisis buyer thinking rewarded relationship based selling. When the economy was strong, growing and things were relatively predictable, buyers rewarded continuity and business relationships.

Today Decision Makers are reassessing every spending and investment decision they make. They are looking for ways to reduce, delay or cancel purchases and investment decisions and they are seeking certainty that desired results will be achieved as planned. Maintaining a predominantly relationship focused sales approach will not cut much sway or add relevant value to buyers with a ‘spend less, delay or cancel’ mindset. To succeed in helping today’s buying decision makers you must move your style to a results focused approach.

3 Steps to Mastering Results-Focused Selling:

1. ‘Euroize/Dollarize’ the problem. Help your client to quantify the cost of his/her problem or lost opportunity by determining an approximate cost or financial benefit. This will allow the customer to prioritize their buying or investment decision and create a sense of urgency to take action. The rule is: the bigger the problem (€), the bigger the solution (€).

2. Use Creative Thinking (Divergent Thinking) Create a list. Work with your customer to draw up a list of as many possible ideas and actions that could minimize or resolve the problem and deliver the required outcomes. The goal is to capture the maximum number of possibilities without judging or eliminating any ideas. Target: Create a list of 20 possible solutions.

3. Use Critical Thinking (Convergent Thinking) Make a choice. In this phase of the process help the Decision Maker choose the best solution that meets his requirements: cost or investment, and delivers the desired results. Demonstrate how you can assure that the desired results will be realized? Provide value assurance by helping your customers achieve their desired results in a measured and predictable manner.

Relationship Based Selling is no longer a meaningful differentiator to buying decision makers in the post-crisis world. Buyers are looking for results and you must demonstrate that you are results-focused by helping them: 1) identify, 2) quantify and 3) deliver desired results. To succeed in tomorrow’s post-crisis business world you must become a Results-Focused Trusted Advisor.

From Chaos to Clarity

2009-02-09T08:32:00.003+01:00

Success in sales comes from creating clarity in the mind of your customer. Clarity in understanding the problem to be solved, clarity in evaluating the possible solutions available and clarity in determining the real value to the business that each solution provides today and in the future.

Clarity helps the customer to move forward with commitment and confidence. How do you create clarity? The first step is to listen. Warning: Do not be deceived by the apparent simplicity or obviousness of this critical first step. Listening is the foundation of success in sales. Listen intently while the customer describes his or her current situation, and then describes their future desired state so that you can help the customer to quantify the size of the gap between the two and move your collective thinking to how to close the gap. The key to success here depends on your ability to listen intently and this means being able to temporarily suspend your self-interest and avoid doing all the talking. Listening is an underdeveloped skill in many sales professionals today and listening is vital to being able to create clarity for your customer. 3 simple steps to follow to create clarity:

Listen to Learn
Mind-set Tip #1: Listening to learn is vital to your success in creating clarity for your customers. It is all about wanting to learn which transcends the desire to simply understand your customer. When we are in learning mode we are open and receptive to new and different ideas and able to explore and play with them freely. Listening intently in this frame of mind will significantly help your customers to clarify their thinking and their decision making.

Listen with Your Eyes
Mind-set Tip #2: Listen with your eyes by focusing your attention on observing your customer. Observe the customer’s body language as she describes her challenges and the ideal solution she would like your help to deliver. Listen with your eyes in an objective and nonjudgmental way. Observe her thinking. Look beyond the words she uses. Look for the hidden drivers of her behavior. Focus your observation on looking for insights into how she responds to your questions, how she makes decisions and what motivates her to commit to take action.

Listen with Your Mind
Mind-set Tip #3: Listen with your mind by listening for the unconscious forces at work in the head of your customer. Think about how they process information. Do they want facts and figures and benchmark data, or do they prefer anecdotal customer stories and case studies, or do they show a preference for testimonials and references? This will help you to understanding how they: 1) think, 2) decide and 3) behave. Knowing this will allow you to navigate your way successfully through the complexity of their decision making process.

Success in sales today is about helping your customer move from chaos to clarity. Do this by listening to learn about how they think, process information and make decisions. When you create clarity your customers will commit to moving forward with you and be confident in achieving their desired outcome.

Quantifying Value - The Ultimate Sales Tool

2009-01-21T18:24:00.028+01:00

Understanding your own value – the value of your products and services – and being able to connect that value to your customer's business drivers is what makes customers want to buy. Customers want the benefits, the business benefits that your product or service can create and deliver to their business.

In today's business climate customers are critically reviewing and reassessing their businesses, rethinking their options, re-allocating resources and re-prioritizing their business strategies. You can assist your customers in this process by helping them to identify and quantify value gaps or value opportunities, demonstrating how value can be created, implemented and then measured to ensure that the value realised meets or exceeds plan.

Value maximisation followed by value assurance is what your customers desperately want and need today. Show him or her how they can achieve these two goals and you will create more than a customer, you will create a business partner for life.

Price Advantage -> Product Advantage -> Competitive Advantage -> Value Advantage!!!

To learn how to create your own Value Advantage read "The Prime Solution" by Jeff Thull. You will learn how to close the value gap, increase margins and win the complex sale. Go to http://www.primeresource.com/ to download a free copy of the foreword, introduction and chapter 1.

Managing Your Mindset. Your #1 Challenge in 2009

2008-12-25T14:46:00.018+01:00

Woody Allen said “80 percent of success is showing up.”
Thinking about it, this is very practical advice, and for people in sales a good rule to live by. You can’t influence, persuade, or sell yourself or your ideas if you aren’t sitting in front of the person you need to influence. Now ask yourself this.

How often have you chosen to simply send an email or make a phone call rather than holding to a face-to-face meeting?

Essentially you are choosing between sending your message vs personally delivering your message. Using email and the phone is easier for sure. However, it is also easier for the other person to choose to ignore, misunderstand or fail to take the desired action in response to your message. Less investment in time and effort equates to less commitment to influence. So, showing up wins? Yes, no contest. But, I think that there is a critical and unstated assumption here. Let me explain. Showing up, how and in what state of mind? Showing up when you are unprepared, uncommitted, de-motivated, tired, or sick means that we may have been better off sending an email or making a phone call. Showing up when you are well prepared: having a plan, being fully committed and having a positive mental attitude is what will deliver success.

Maintaining a Positive Mindset
“Your altitude is determined by your attitude.” If you don’t think for yourself, someone else will do it for you. You must manage your mindset so that you can manage their mindset. How do you maintain a positive mindset or a positive mental attitude? Well, it starts with having a clear end game in mind, to know where you are going. To have clearly defined desired outcomes. “Visualizing something organizes one’s ability to accomplish it.” says Stephen Covey. It brings a sense of clarity and a sense of purpose to everything we do. Mental creation proceeds physical creation. Attitude equals thinking win-win and attitude is everything.
Keep your attitude in check by reminding yourself of the desired thinking, behaviors and beliefs that you want to reinforce using attitude affirmations like these:
· I will think of myself as Successful!
· I will have positive expectations for everything I do!
· I will remind myself of past successes!
· I will not dwell on failures, I just will not repeat them!
· I will surround myself with positive people and ideas!
· I will keep trying until I achieve the results I want!

Maintaining a Positive Message
The words you use and the way you deliver them is what determines your ability to get your message across and make it memorable. Words and how we use them are like a paint brush and a canvas in the hands of an artist. You are creating a master piece, a spoken master piece; you are using your words to paint a beautiful picture of your vision in the mind of the people you are meeting. Words work best when they are conveyed with e-motion (energy in motion). Emotion is what speaks to people’s hearts and minds. Emotion is what moves people to action. Emotion is what makes messages memorable and what creates lasting impact.
Maintaining Positive Momentum
“Plans are useless, but planning in indispensible.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Before the meeting replay in your mind your previous successes and big wins. Think of all the possible positive outcomes that exist. Then lay them out in front of your audience. Show them how you can help them bring positive change to the organization and the people you are meeting. Create the positive future that you desire by moving their hearts and minds and focusing their thinking on the next step; the decision to take action. The best and simplest way to do this is to ask the following question. “Where do we go from here….?” Then describe the 3 scenarios, alternative solutions or courses of action that you would recommend. “From what we have discussed together today the 3 possible courses of action that I see are…….” Then help them chose the best possible solution for their situation. Concur, confirm and validate. Agree with their decision and point out all its advantages. Then openly accept responsibility for making it happen by owning their decision. “Based on our discussion we agree that the best course of action is …………. because it delivers the highest level of new customer trails and maximizes the try-to-buy conversion rate by ensuring the best overall user experience for 1st time users. I am committed to working with you and your team to make this happen over the next 90 days.” Sale made!

Three Golden Rules for Managing their Mindset:
1. Always make the effort to meet with people in person face to face. The sale starts when you see eye to eye.
2. Be prepared. Plan out the objectives of your meeting and anticipate different outcome scenarios.
3. Check that you have a positive mental attitude by holding in your mind at all times a clear vision of your desired outcome(s).

Then as Woody Allen says 80 percent of success is showing up.

Selling in an Economic Downturn

2008-10-27T18:26:00.023+01:00

“When the going gets tough the tough get going.” - Joseph P. Kennedy (JFK's Father)

We are entering a period of enormous change and uncertainty. We are witnessing the emergence of a new world order and a new business era. The Financial Crisis will impact the global economy, but where, when and by how much we don’t yet know. One thing is for sure. The “New World” will be less tolerant and less forgiving of much of our current “Old World” sales practices. In a downturn, customers will reassess their activities, expenditures, suppliers and business relationships to see where they can make savings, streamline their business and find new levels of operational efficiency to drive down costs. This presents the New Era Sales Professional with an unparalleled opportunity to take the lead by helping guide their customers through this reassessment process.

A simple and effective way to move your thinking to a NESP (New Era Sales Professional) is to ask yourself the following questions:

What will help my customer’s business in the new world economy?
How can I leverage my understanding of my customer's business, my knowledge of their industry and my products/services to do this?

A Five Point Plan to protect your existing business and maximize your sales in an economic downturn:

1. Keep cool. Stay positive, confident and motivated. We are entering a radically new business environment. Things are going to be difficult (maybe), different (definitely). Your ability to maintain your energy, enthusiasm and conviction are vital. A positive mindset determines your ability to achieve and to succeed by overcoming obstacles, barriers and constraints that are going to appear to surround you. The first victory is over one’s self.

2. Keep close to your customers. Look for new and innovative ways to make your customers more competitive by demonstrating how you can save them money. Gain a deeper understanding of what is truly important and of value to your customers - and know why. Visit your customers more often. Get to meet and know more people in the customer’s organization. Set a goal to meet 2 new contacts on each visit you make. Call high and wide. Know your customers better than anyone else.

3. Keep focused on customer value. To succeed in the New World of business stay focused on 2 critical things: 1. the customer and 2. the customer’s unending pursuit of performance improvement. In the New World business value will captured in 3 areas: i) achieving lower costs, ii) gaining high levels of productivity from smaller organizations, and iii) striving to create sustainable competitive advantage. Look for new and innovative ways to better serve your customers. Innovate and re-validate your current product/service value proposition. Actively seek ways to add value to your customers above and beyond your current product and service offerings.

4. Keep prospecting. Selectively target new clients. Prospecting has and always will be the base metric of success in sales. In the New World the focus shifts from prospecting to prospecting effectiveness. Quantity (Old World) yields to quality (New World). New Era prospecting means being ruthless in deciding how and where to invest your time and effort to develop new business opportunities. That means deciding which prospects and which prospecting activities you are going to stop so that you can concentrate on New Era Prospecting.

5. Keep growing. Invest in yourself. Develop your New Era Sales Skills and your personal value proposition. It may seem counter-intuitive, but when it gets harder and harder to fell big trees it is time to stop and sharpen the saw. Sharpening your sales skills means setting aside time to develop your skills through reading, listening to podcasts, attending seminars and conferences, participating in training programs and joining expert groups. In the New World you are responsible for your own self development.

By finding ways to deliver new levels of business value to your customers, above and beyond what they are used to today, you will stand out from the crowd especially during an economic downturn.

Resilient Thinking: Leading in a world of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

2008-09-29T14:48:00.016+02:00

“Its not what happens to you in life. Its how you react to what happens to you that makes the difference.”

One of the biggest challenges a leader faces today is learning to live with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity despite an increasing oversupply of information. This makes decision making more difficult and problematic than ever before. How can we deal with this growing confusion in our world?

Using Resilient Thinking we can turn around the above with a combination of Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility. The 4 antidotes to Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity work like this:

Volatility Yields to Vision:
Vision means having a clear intent, a clear direction for your actions. Vision is much more important than foresight since it seeks to create a future, not just study the future. With clear vision, creative space opens for innovation within the parameters you specify. A bold vision sees beyond volatility, with a calm perspective not trapped by assumptions of the present.

Uncertainty Yields to Understanding:
Listening leads to understanding, which is the basis for trust. You must learn to listen carefully without judging too soon. Today’s world creates urgency to act quickly, but sometimes it is a false sense of urgency. The best leaders have the presence and calm inquisitiveness to listen before talking.

Complexity Yields to Clarity:
Leaders must help others to make sense of complexity. Today’s world rewards clarity because people are so confused that they grasp at anything that helps them to make sense out of the chaos. The thoughtful leader’s quest is to be both clear and accurate, simple without being simplistic.

Ambiguity Yields to Agility:
Leaders cannot surrender to ambiguity; that would lead to paralysis and confusion. Rather, they must learn how to be agile and respond to attack and a continually changing business environment. Today’s world rewards networks because they are agile, while it punishes the rigidity of command/control hierarchies.

How can Leaders embed these four values into all levels of their organizations? It starts with applying the Foresight -> Insight -> Action Cycle which will be the subject of a future blog post.

*Based on ideas from the book: “Get There Early. Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present” by Bob Johansen, publisher by Berrett-Koehler, 2007
Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present

Creating Moments of Insight – The Key To Getting Results Through Others

2008-09-07T16:33:00.023+02:00

"An insight is a restructuring of information. It's seeing the same old thing in a completely new way. Once that restructuring occurs, you never go back." - Earl K. Miller, Ph D. Neuroscientist at M.I.T.

One of the greatest moments in problem solving is the emergence of a break through idea, or the sudden flash of new understanding that we call an insight. Also known as “Aha” or “Eureka” moments, an insight is a sudden burst of activity in the right hemisphere of the brain that lasts for about 300 milliseconds. In comparison to normal analytical thinking an insight is instantaneous: the answer arrives like a revelation. This is usually followed by a feeling of certainty that accompanies the new idea.

“Your brain knows much more than you do. An insight is a fleeting glimpse of the brain's huge store of unknown knowledge.” - Mark Jung Beeman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Northwest University

What leads to moments of insight? How can you create or enable them? How can you create moments of insight in others? Imagine how effective we could become if we had several insights every day, or if we could bring about insights in others as and when we wanted. The job of a leader is to get results through others. Whatever your natural leadership style: Coercive, Authoritative, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting or Coaching, creating insights in the people around you will enable you to capture their hearts and minds, align their thinking and secure their total commitment to your cause. Creating insights in others is the simplest and most effective way to get results through others. There are 3 phases to creating insights:

The Preparatory Phase:
The brain requires considerable computational power to process truly new and original thoughts. Therefore various sensory areas of the brain like the visual cortex need to go silent. The brain suppresses all possible distractions. This is the same reason we close our eyes when we are trying to think. "Focus is all about blocking stuff out" - Mark Jung Beeman

The Search Phase:
Almost all of the possibilities your brain comes up with are going to be wrong. The brain will keep on searching or, if necessary, change strategies and start searching somewhere else. Sometimes, just when the brain is about to give up, an insight appears. The suddenness of the insight comes with a burst of brain activity in the form of a spike of gamma wave activity in the anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG) in the right hemisphere of the brain. This is the area of the brain used for understanding linguistic nuance, processing of jokes and for creating insights. This requires the brain to make a set of distant and unprecedented connections.

The Relaxation Phase:
The drowsy brain in an unwound and disorganized state is open to all sorts of unconventional ideas. We do some of our best thinking when we are half asleep. That's why so many insights happen during warm showers. The Concentration Paradox: Concentration, it seems, comes with the hidden cost of diminished creativity. We must concentrate on the problem and at the same time concentrate on letting the mind wander. The Focus Paradox: the ability to focus on not being focused. The brain must be focused on the task at hand and then be transformed by accidental, serendipitous connections. Predictive neural indicators are a steady rhythm of alpha waves emanating from right hemisphere. Alpha waves correlate with a state of relaxation which makes the brain more receptive to new ideas and unusual associations of ideas.

Insight Activation:
Immerse yourself in the problem until you hit an impasse. Then when it seems that nothing good is being accomplished, find a way to distract yourself, preferably by reading a book on a totally unrelated subject or going for a walk. Then, suddenly, the answer will arrive when you least expect it.

Creating insights in others is the single most effective leadership skill that I know of. It transcends coercion or authority. It transcends influence and persuasion. People always like best, and are motivated to act on, their own ideas. Creating insights in others allows you to transfer knowledge and ideas that are immediately appropriated by and become synonymous with the other person’s thinking. This is leadership by design and leadership by co-creation of desired outcomes through individual personal conviction. Activating insights in others comes through dialog based on asking questions. See previous post: Asking Questions in Colour.

Selling Your Ideas. The Art of Storytelling

2008-02-03T19:06:00.000+01:00

“We have found that the most effective persuaders use language in a particular way. They supplement numerical data with examples, stories, metaphors, and analogies to make their positions come alive. That use of language paints a vivid word picture and, in doing so, lends a compelling and tangible quality to the persuader’s point of view.” - Jay Conger, "The Necessary Art of Persuasion," Harvard Business Review

From the beginning of time, man has used cave drawings, pictograms and hieroglyphics to tell stories to transfer information, knowledge and experience, to communicate complex ideas and to pass on values and beliefs from one generation to the next. In today’s business world narrative stories remain the most effective way to reach out and “touch” people and influence their thinking by communicating ideas that stimulate understanding, reinforce or challenge established positions and help the listener to imagine alternative courses of action and envision a new and better future.

Why tell Stories? Telling stories creates a lasting impact and conveys new levels of understand and meaning. Telling stories allows us to accelerate the creation of common understanding and purpose in others in a non-directive and therefore more sustainable and pervasive way. The best form of story has an ironic end, in which that audience realises without the need for explanation how the happy ending could have come about. In this way learning is internalised and the audience will always remember the message or moral of the story.

What makes a great Storyteller? Great Storytellers follow 4 simple rules:

1. Structure: All great stories have a plot and characters. The plot should be designed to move the audience to the desired point of view, decision or action. Examples of characters include: a novice character who serves as a stand in for the listener or a hero who serves as an aspirational role model.
2. Authenticity: The story’s message will resonate with the audience when it is aligned with the personality of the storyteller.
3. Congruency: Good storytellers know their own deepest interests and values, and reveals them in their story with honesty and candor.
4. Emotion: Being true to yourself involves showing and sharing your emotions. “I want you to feel what I feel/felt.” A good story is designed to make this happen by sharing information that is bound in personal experience and thus made unforgettable. Sharing emotion demands generosity on the part of the Storyteller. Why? Because it requires being vulnerable. Be willing to expose your fears, anxieties and shortcomings. This allows the audience to identify with you and thereby brings listeners to a place of understanding and a clarity of understanding that will ultimately move them to action.

What are the best stories to tell? The best stories to tell are your own stories because you can tell them with credibility and ease because they are based on your own experience.

Business Storytelling: You must enter the hearts of your audience because this is where their emotions live. Information seeks only to "rent space" in their minds and our minds are relatively open. However, we guard our hearts with zeal, knowing its power to move us. The audience’s mind is part of our target, their heart is our bulls-eye. To be effective the Storyteller must first display his own open heart.

Customer Success Stories: Knowledge of how existing customers were able to address their business problems using your product or service enables you to engage, present and sell to others customers who have similar situations. Look to capture 4 success stories from each customer sale that you make. 1) Vision of a solution: This is what the customer has in mind as he moves through the typical buying process. 2) Solution as initially implemented: The first inprovements and intial results from using your product or service and the time taken to reach this point. 3) Solution fully deployed: What are the full benfits and improvements generated by your solution after it has been fully deployed? 4) Extended solution: Here we are looking for examples of how the customer has been able to achieve other additional benefits to their business that you have not envisioned. These customer success stories often represent new market opportunities.

Stories create a common understanding, disrupt existing or engrained thinking, facilitate learning by enhancing facts and data with context and meaning, and can helpe us to recongnise problems, admit short comings or failure without attribution or blame. Increase your sales today by telling stories that enable understanding, reveal meaning and create insights into how your products and services can help your customers to achieve their vision, their business objectives and most importantly their personal goals. Remember: Don’t Sell, Tell (great stories)!

Selling Your Ideas: The Art of Persausion

2007-12-08T15:53:00.000+01:00

"You can have brilliant ideas; but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere." - Lee Iacocca, former Chairman of Chrysler Corp."
How do you develop a systematic approach to selling your ideas that results in effective persuasion? Answer: Learn how to “woo” people to your way of thinking. “Woo” stands for Winning Others Over. It is the ability to move people to your way of thinking without coercion or force, using relationship-based, emotionally intelligent persuasion. To “woo” someone has many different meanings, but they all come down one thing - focusing on the other person, the person you want to persuade. You “woo” people to get their support and approval. It is also the ability to easily establish rapport with many different people. However "woo" may also be defined as effectively selling ideas - using persuasion rather than force - is one of the most important skills that everyone from CEOs and entrepreneurs to team leaders and mid-level managers need to learn if they want to be effective in their organizations. The 4 Step process to selling your ideas: based on “the art of WOO. Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas”, by G. Richard Shell & Mario Moussa, Portfolio, 2007

Step 1) Survey Your Situation: The Idea:
- Exactly what problem does your idea solve?
- What are the causes of this problem?
- What makes my idea better than the available alternatives?
Selling Strategy Stepping Stones:
- Who is the decision Maker?
- Where does the person I am approaching fit into my stepping-stone strategy?
- What are my specific goals for this encounter (gain input, access, positive attitude, authorisation, endorsement, decision, resources, implementation)?
- What medium (face-to-face, phone, e-mail, etc.) should I use?

Step 2) Confronting the 5 Barriers. Be prepare to overcome the 5 most common obstacles that can sink ideas before they get started. The 5 barriers are:
1. Unreceptive beliefs. What beliefs and values does this person hold that could block or support my case?
2. Conflicting interests. What are the other party’s interests and how can I address them?
3. Negative relationships. What characterises my relationship to the person I am trying to influence? Can I improve that relationship?
4. Lack of credibility. What is the basis for my credibility with this person? Can I emphasise this?
5. Communication. What channels should I use (Authority, Rationality, Vision, Relationship, Interests, Politics)? Do I need to adjust my style? Great persuaders throughout history have shared a natural “instinct” for overcoming this last barrier.

Step 3) Making Your Pitch. Frame your idea in a compelling way by answering the following questions:
- What evidence will best resonate with the other person?
- How can I personalize the pitch and make it memorable?
- Link the pitch to key organizational goals and objectives
- Address any potentially conflicting interests.

Step 4) Secure Your Commitments. Seek to secure both individual and organizational commitments.
- What public actions can I request to obtain an individual commitment?
- What political objections may arise related to turf, resources, credit, or careers?
- How can I create momentum to generate a snowball effect?
- What alliances and coalitions should I develop to secure implementation?

Avoid the mistake of thinking that your job is done when you get a “yes” to your proposal. Research shows that in most organizations as many as 8 sign-offs are required even for simple ideas. So, after you move the individual you need to move the organization and that can require a lot of effort to keep the pressure on to drive through new ideas and change within the organization.

Pitching to Win. The 3 things you absolutely must do

2007-11-07T22:33:00.000+01:00

How many times have you had to sit through a really bad presentation or pitch? What was it about the pitch that made you bored, disinterested, frustrated or even angry? We all know a bad pitch when we experience one, but what does it take to make a really great pitch?
The key to making winning pitches lies in being able to answer these two questions:
- What are the 2 things that they want to hear?
- What are the 3 things that you absolutely, positively must do if you want them to buy you and your ideas? Let me answer this question first.

The 3 Platinum Rules of making winning pitches:
1. The message is all about them and not about you.
Do a quick check of your next pitch presentation. Are you starting out with an overview of your company: its history and position in your industry and why you are so good at what you do? Here is the bad news. The group you are pitching to doesn't care about you or your company until they know that you understand and care them and their business, their goals for the future and the challenges they face getting there. When we talk about us and not them we fail to capture their attention and we fail to engage the group. But there is an other more serious consequence which is that we waste the best part of the groups attention span which decreases rapidly when we talk about “us”, and when we do finally talk about “them” they are at the low end of the attention curve (see diagram "Audience Buy-in"). In other words we actively minimise our chances to connect, engage and persuade our audience.
2. Establish relevance up front:
"Why" before "what", "how", "who" and "when. Focus on WIIFT (What is it for them) and avoid WIIFM (What is in it for me) thinking. Try this simple test. Take a yellow highlighter pen to your presentation pitch and mark every reference to your company, your brand, your product or service, your position in the market, your track record, your financials, etc. Then present what is left unmarked as your pitch. You may be alarmed to find that you don’t have much to say! Then do a quick check of your benefits statements. Remember the Golden Rule: Its not a benefit unless it has the word "you" in it. Example. At the end of the new campaign you will have revenues up by 15% in the current quarter and you will get complaints down by 25-30% over the following 2 quarters.
3. Focus on their better future not your brilliant past.
This means that you don’t talk about your reference customers, case studies, client testimonials, etc. until you have described how you will positively impact their business over time. This takes hard work. To have solid data on their better future you have to know where they are today, where they want to be tomorrow and know by how much you can help them get there and in what time frame. Once you have established this you can confidently talk about the After Effects: outcomes and results. By doing this you will be aligned with their No. #1 interest – how to achieve their mission, goals and objectives which will determine their success as individuals and as a group.

What are the 2 things that your audience wants to hear?
1) the After Effects. i.e. What do they get and when do they get it, and
2) they want certainty. Anticipate this need by answering the unasked question: How can I be sure and certain that you can and will deliver what you are pitching? This is where your case studies, customer references and client testimonials can be leveraged. As George Bernard Shaw said: “What men want is not knowledge, but certainty.” Make sure that your pitch delivers that certainty.”

Getting Your Calls Returned

2007-10-09T15:13:00.000+02:00

Do people always return your phone calls? Do you end up leaving lots of messages and still people don’t call you back? When people don’t return your calls what can you do? Well lots.....

Preparation is the key to getting your calls returned. Think carefully about the impression you want to create and outcome you want to achieve. Your preparation will be ‘felt’ by the person you are leaving the message for. People who are well prepared inspire trust and confidence and they give the impression of having something of value to offer.
Mindset before message: Before you make the call or leave a message check your thinking and your expectations. Ask yourself the following question: “Do I really believe that I have something of value for the person I am calling? If the answer is a clear yes it will come across in your message through your words, your intent and your tone of voice.
Building your message:
The first idea we want our message to convey is: ‘I am professional. I am structured and organised, and I am reliable because I am following up on our last call or meeting.’ We want to create psychological reciprocity whereby the person hearing our message feels compelled to return our call because not doing so would mean that they are unprofessional, unstructured, disorganised and unreliable.
The second idea we want to convey is: “I have something of specific value to you and your business.” This is fundamental to engaging the other person’s self-interest. People act in their own best interest. So, to get them to take action and return our call we need to give them one or several compelling reasons to do so. This means that we have to let them know the ‘what’ and ‘why’ with clarity, brevity and impact. The best way I know of to create maximum impact is to describe the potential pay back for them in their language.
The third idea is to state clearly the reason for your call and therefore the reason they should call you back. Your message should answer the question: ‘How I can be of value and service to the person I am leaving the message for?’
Mixing media. E-mail vs. phone messages: If you are not getting your phone calls returned try another communication medium. I find that email works best with a lot of busy people. Email has the advantage of being read, re-read and responded to at different times of the day and of the week. Example: I know of one International CEO who responded to an e-mail follow up message at 11.40 on a Saturday evening. Obviously this was the best time for her to go through her inbox and respond to unanswered e-mail.
End your message with a ‘Call to Action’: Simply asking them to call you back is not enough. You must tell them why it is in their best interest to call you back. Tap into their self-interest by describing the potential pay back and proposing a concrete next step to move forward in that direction. Example: “Hi Bill, I am following up from our last meeting where you indicated that an increase in production levels could justify a full review of your existing ERP system. I am calling to schedule our next meeting where I would like to present the findings of a recent study and explore how those recommendations could be implemented to drive up productivity at ABC Inc. By the way, the 23% improvement number we discussed seems very realistic. Who else from your team should be at the meeting?”

Make it easy for the other person to want to take action and return your call.... and they will!

Investigative Selling

2007-09-18T21:39:00.000+02:00

Often the best way to approach a sales opportunity is the way a detective approaches a crime scene, by learning as much as possible about the situation, the circumstances and the people involved.

The 5 principles of Investigative Selling:

#1. Don’t just find out what the customer wants, find out why they want it!
Spend less time trying to persuading the customer of the need for your product or service and spend more time gaining a deeper understanding of the customer’s situation, from their perspective. Your understanding of the customer’s current position will give rise to new possible outcomes and this is when the sale really begins.
#2. Seek to understand and minimise the customer’s constraints.
Customers always have constraints and often these constraints can lead him/her to act in ways that don’t seem rational and that reduces trust which can destroy the sale. Smart investigative sales people attempt to discover the customer’s constraints and then help overcome them, rather than dismissing them as being unimportant or unreasonable. Never view the customer’s constraints as simply their constraints. These are your constraints also. Therefore, your job is to uncover their key constraints and work with the customer to eliminate or minimise their impact on the sale.
#3. Interpret objections and demands as opportunities.
Objections are indicators or sign posts that point us in the direction of a successful outcome. Instead of responding directly to the objection, focus on what the objection or demand reveals about the customer’s thinking, and expectations. When a customer makes seemingly unreasonable demands, often sales people adopt a defensive mind-set. Investigative sales people confront difficult demands the same way they confront any customer statement and ask themselves the following question: “What does this objection or demand tell me about the customer’s real needs and interests?”
#4. Create common ground with all members of the customer’s decision making team.
Understand that the customer’s needs are complimentary and not competitive to your position. Those who view their relationship with a customer as one dimensional – transactional – forgo opportunities for value creation. Whereas, investigative sales people appreciate the complexity of the customer relationship, explore areas of mutual interest and are able to find common ground.
#5. Continue to investigate the sale even after the deal appears to be lost.
Never assume that because the customer has rejected your offer that the deal is dead. Many times “lost opportunities” can be brought back to life by simply asking why your proposal was rejected and explaining that an answer could help you improve future proposals. Seek to gain additional information about the customer’s reasoning and decision making. Then explore alternative ways to re-position and/or re-price your offer accordingly. Always ask: “Based on this information, I am confident that we could have beaten ‘their’ offer. Would you consider a revised offer?” Or “What would it have taken for us to reach agreement?”

Investigative Selling requires a total focus on the customer’s interests, priorities and constraints. Building a value-maximising deal often depends not so much your ability to persuade, as your ability to: 1) ask insightful questions and 2) listen deeply to the customer’s response. Investigative Selling is an information game. Those who know how to obtain maximum information perform better than those who don’t. Investigative Selling requires mental toughness to always challenge assumptions, probe below the surface and avoid taking no for an answer.

Beyond IQ. Social Intelligence (SI). A journey into S.P.A.C.E.

2007-07-29T21:19:00.000+02:00

Have you ever wondered how highly success sales people navigate social situations so skillfully and seem to always know how and when to engage others in ways that are effective in any sales situation?

Success in sales is nearly always based on superior intelligence. Superior market intelligence, superior competitive intelligence, superior customer intelligence and superior intelligence of the sales team or sales person. Personal intelligence or IQ (Intelligent Quotient) used to be considered as the single best predictive indicator of Intelligence and therefore personal capacity and capability at work and in life. This was followed by the more complete concept of Multiple Intelligences (MI) which divided intelligence into 6 categories: Abstract Intelligence – symbolic reasoning, Social Intelligence – dealing with people (the subject of this post), Practical Intelligence – getting things done, Emotional Intelligence – self-awareness and self-management, Aesthetic Intelligence – the sense of form, design, music, art and literature and Kinesthetic Intelligence – whole-body skills like sports, dance, or music.
So what is Social Intelligence (SI) and more importantly how can I get more of it? Here is a simple 5 part model that you can use to develop your current level of Social Intelligence. Based on the book Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success, by Karl Albrecht, Jossey-Bass, 2006

S.P.A.C.E.: The 5 Skills of Human Interaction:

Situational Awareness: the ability to read situations and to interpret the behaviors of the people in those situations, in terms of their possible intentions, emotional states and ease of interaction.
Presence: a range of verbal and nonverbal signals, one’s appearance, posture, voice quality, subtle movements, a whole collection of inputs that one uses to form an overall impression of a person.
Authenticity: how others interpret our behavior to judge us as honest, open, ethical, trustworthy, well-intentioned or otherwise.
Clarity: our ability to explain ourselves, illuminate ideas, communicate data clearly and accurately, articulate our views and proposed courses of action, enables us to get others to co-operate with us.
Empathy: a shared “feeling” between two people, a state of “connectedness” with another person, which creates the basis for positive interaction and co-operation.

By studying our performance in each of these 5 dimensions we can: i) determine where we are today, ii) decide where we want to be tomorrow, and iii) put in place a simple action plan to progress in each competence area as desired.
The best way to do this is to make your journey into S.P.A.C.E. an everyday exercise of observation, learning and development. By expanding your S.P.A.C.E. you will be more effective at tapping into your customers collective minds and that means more and bigger sales. Good selling!

Asking Questions in Colour

2007-07-02T21:45:00.000+02:00

“You can tell a man is clever by his answers. You can tell a man is wise by his questions."

Asking questions is one of the best ways I know to get information. But not all questions are created equal. Insightful and profound questions invite equally insightful and profound answers. In sales great questions bring out lots of valuable information about the customer’s needs, desires and concerns. So, how do you ask great questions that uncover the real facts, opinions and feelings?
1) Get in the flow of Open -> Closed Questions: The first thing to keep in mind when asking questions is to start with open questions and then progressively move to more closed questions as you seek more specific information. Only when you have reached a clear and quantified response to a specific question should you move on to the next question area.
2) Ask White, Green, Black and Red Questions: This is a simple and easy way to remember a powerful sequence of questions that go directly to the real issue(s) that will directly uncover a maximum of information, rich in facts, opinions and feelings. How does it work?
You need to remember two things: 1) what each colour represents and 2) to always use the questions in same colour sequence - white, green, black and red.
White Questions: Current situation. Facts, data and information. Think of white snow: pure, cold hard facts. Example: “How would you characterize your Managed Services business in the Small and Medium Business market segment in Western Europe today?”
Green Questions: Desired situation. Future state. Think of grass, trees, growth, what a situation can become. Example: “Looking to the future, where would you like your business to be 12 months from now?”
Black Questions: Obstacles, contraints or limitations. Important and powerful, yet often left unasked. Think of night time or being in the dark, you can’t see in the dark. Turn on the light to see what stands between you (your current position) and where you want to go (your desired future situation). Example: “What do you see as being the major challenges or constraints you will face in getting there?”
Red Questions: Feelings. Fire, red is an explosive color, highly emotionally charged. Example: “If any one of these constraints significantly delayed your progress against plan, what would be the impact on you and your team?”

Once you have got answers to these four questions you can determine not only what to sell but more importantly how to sell. Experiment by asking questions in colour at your next customer meeting and you will discover that you gain more and richer information that will help you to make more sales. You will also discover that you will be seen as a valued resource by your customers.

Ideas That Stick

2007-05-23T22:22:00.000+02:00

One of the determinant skills that separates good from great sales people is how great sales practitioners can get across their ideas and then get their ideas permanently embedded in the heads of the people they are talking to. The word “sticky” has become part of today’s business vocabulary and very clearly describes the desired outcome of ‘making a lasting impression’ or ‘creating residual impact’ or ‘moving someone’s position - permanently’. There are 6 simple steps to being able to create “sticky ideas” which is the subject of recent book that I found fascinating.
“Made to Stick. Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, Random House Inc., 2007.
The 6 principles are easy to remember because they make up the word SUCCESs: 1) Simple, 2) Unexpected, 3) Concrete, 4) Credible, 5) Emotional, and 6) Stories. The 6 principles or steps work like this:
SIMPLE: Find the core of your idea and then share the core. Get laser focus on one simple, profound, powerful and concentrated idea.
UNEXPECTED: use surprise to get attention, and then use interest to hold attention.
CONCRETE: help people understand and remember, and then help people coordinate.
CREDIBLE: help people to believe and then agree by using external credibility using authority & anti-authority, and internal credibility using convincing detailed information – statistics, data, reports, etc.
EMOTIONAL: make people care, use the power of association, appeal to self-interest & appeal to identity
STORIES: get people to act. Stories as simulation (tell people how to act). Stories as inspiration (give people energy to act)

Selling is all about getting our ideas to stick. You cannot influence, convince or persuade someone of something without affecting some lasting, permanent change in the thinking or position of the other person. Whether you are in sales or not, we are all “selling” our ideas all day every day to everyone we meet. At work with our colleagues or our Manager, socially with our friends, and at home with our Partner or our children. Sticky ideas are the key to moving people in our direction. Selling is simply a specific transactional application of getting our ideas (sales messages) to stick. Success in selling is and always will be determined by our ability to get our ideas to stick.

Changing People's Minds by Communicating with Emotion

2007-03-11T22:23:00.000+01:00

The way to move people to action is through emotion. Whether you want to change someone's mind or get them to take action on something they are already in agreement with. Emotion is the key. Think of emotion as energy in motion. People respond to emotion and make decision based on emotions and then justify their decisions with logic and rational arguments and then defend their decisions with supportive facts. So to change someone's mind you must give them both the emotional reasons and the rational arguments. This will require you to first uncover their true motivations, drivers, desires and wants as well as their needs. Communicating with emotion means using energy and enthusiasm to connect at all levels - mental, emotional and spiritual. Communicating with emotion means demonstrating your conviction in your position, argument or beliefs.
“The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions.” - William F. Scolavino
You earn the right to ask questions if they are motivated by your sincere interest to understand other people and their situation. Then listen with your eyes. Yes, with your eyes...

7% Verbal (Words only)
38% Verbal (tone of voice, speed of speech, facial expressions, etc.)
55% Non Verbal (Body language)

If you listen only with your ears you can expected to get 45% of the message at the very best, because the greater part of the information is emotional and is communicated through visually observable indicators like facial expressions and body language.
Great salespeople use emotion to connect and communicate with others, earn the right to ask diagnostic questions and listen with their eyes and hear with their minds.

"Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.”

Becoming A Trusted Advisor

2007-01-26T21:38:00.000+01:00

Speaking to the EEMEA sales team at Orange Business Services Sales Kick-Off 2007 in Faro, Portugal. The key ideas presented in "How to Over-Achieve in 2007 by becoming a Trusted Advisor" were:

The Sales Cycle vs the Buying Decision Process

Stages of Sales Proficiency

Building Trust

Creating Credibility: Expected vs Exceptional Credibility

Engaging Diagnostic Conversations

Asking questions with impact

Listening with your eyes

Sight vs Insight. Sight = seeing with your eyes. Insight = seeing with your mind

Communicating in Technocolour

Using Emotion = Energy in Motion

Creating a Culture of Excellence

How Great Sales Professionals Create and Use Networks

2007-01-06T15:07:00.000+01:00

In the January 2007 edition of Harvard Business Review, there is a great article entitled: "How Leaders Create and Use Networks." What I found extremely insightful and highly applicable to sales was the Three Forms Of Networking:
1) Operational. where most contacts are internal (within your company) and specific to functions and skills required to getting the current job done.
2) Personal. here contacts are mostly external and oriented to current interests and potential future interests and also a wonderful source of references.
3) Strategic. here contacts are internal and external to your organisation often with experience and expertise very different to our own and orientated towards the future.
I see a huge level of applicability to sales. Let me explain by taking a quote from the article.
"What differentiates a leader from a manager, research tells us, is the ability to figure out where to go to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there." If we replace "leader" by great sales professional and "manager" by good sales professional, I think you will find that we have captured the single biggest difference between what separates good from great in sales today.
Success in sales tomorrow will be increasingly dependent on a) our ability to reinvent ourselves, ie. find new ways of defining our role in sales and b) developing new relationships, ie. networking. These two factors will enable us to deliver new levels of value to our customs.

Complimentary e-book: 10 Ways To Find More Prospects

2006-12-28T18:51:00.000+01:00

Many of you requested a single document containing the 10 articles in an easy to read Executive Summary format. Well here it is.

10 Ways To Find More Prospects: The e-book

Download the free e-book (in pdf format) containing all 10 articles in the series.
Download Now

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 10/10)

2006-12-04T07:56:00.000+01:00

Never Eat Alone (Part 10/10). This has got to be one of the most productive and enjoyable, yet least used methods of prospecting that I know of. This is the quickest way to get to “privileged conversations” with a real exchange of information and ideas. I have found that people are far more open, honest with you and direct when they are relaxed and enjoying a nice meal.
Ask questions about them. The secret to being a good conversationalist and getting people to talk openly with you is very simple. Talk about them. Ask questions about them, about what they do, about their families, about what they like/dislike and about their concerns. Your sincere interest will be rewarded with information that is rich in fact, opinion, emotion and prospecting potential. Make them part of your network by building the foundation of a long relationship that you can come back to in the future.
Gain Industry and Market Intelligence. Ask them what they know about your areas of interest: eg. Market trends, industries, sectors, customers, projects and people. Ask who else do they know amongst their colleagues, associates and friends who may have the same interests, concerns, problems, etc. Always try and get 3 referrals before coffee. Do this right and you will come away with the equivalent of thousands of Euros worth of industry knowledge and market data, plus 3 referrals and a friend for life for a total investment of a 50€ lunch. That’s got to be the best ROI that I know of!
Lets assume that most people eat 3 meals a day and that most people work 5 days per week. That means that you have 15 opportunities to eat with someone per week. Set yourself a goal of: 2 lunch meetings, 1 breakfast meeting and 1 dinner per week. Start planning your agenda now! Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting.
Part 10/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 9/10)

2006-11-27T07:24:00.000+01:00

Getting Recommended (Part 9/10). Without doubt the single most effective way that I know to find new prospects and win new business is to be recommended. Being recommended by someone puts you in an extremely privileged position. Firstly you don’t need to sell yourself or your services as this has already been established and accepted. You simply need to conform to the picture of you and your capabilities that was painted by the person who recommended you. Then start a ‘diagnostic conversation’ to uncover the prospect’s problem(s). Get him/her talking about what is not going well, what is off track or is in some way causing him or her a problem. You are like a dentist “probing for PAIN”. The greater the PAIN the greater the size of the sale. No PAIN, no GAIN!
How do you get yourself recommended? Use every opportunity you get to talk about what’s in your BAG. What? Yes, whenever you meet someone you need to explain your Blessings, Achievements and Goals (BAG). For example: I am very lucky. I have several large clients right now who are keeping me extremely busy (B). I have just completed a very successful client installation of our new Mobile Business Messaging service that allows their field sales people to stay connected with the office when they are on the road. They really love automatic synchronization of email, automatic updates to meetings and changes to their agendas (A). Based on this success I now plan to introduce this solution at Group HQ. They have over 1,000 people who are travelling constantly. They could gain even bigger savings in time and increases in efficiency (G). So, show everyone your BAG and soon they will be recommending you to their associates, colleagues and friends. Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting.
Part 9/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prsopects (Part 8/10)

2006-11-20T05:23:00.000+01:00

Leveraging Events (Part 8/10). A great way to meet new prospects is at events. Events ranging from school sports meetings to Corporate VIP hospitality events. Be there. Attend some local sporting events where you will meet other people with similar sporting interests or attend your kid’s school sports events where you will meet other parents and from there you can get to new prospects using “n+1” thinking together with asking for referrals.
Corporate VIP Hospitality Events. These types of events are a wonderful opportunity to invite those prospects that you cannot easily get to meet. This is often the case when you are trying to meet senior management, busy and difficult to reach people who hold ultimate decision making responsibility. The idea here is to make the event so appealing and the invitation so prestigious that prospects will do anything to be able to participate. Examples include the International Tennis Grand Slam. eg. Roland Garros or Wimbledon, the F1 Grand Prix, the UEFA Cup, or the Rugby World Cup. Now, be sure to invite as many VIP prospects and VIP customers as you possibly can. Existing customers can discuss their experience working with you and your company and give “spontaneous testimonials” to your invited VIP prospects. Give your prospects a VIP invitation to a high profile event and you will always be remembered. Even if they cannot make it or decline your invitation, you have set up reciprocity for later use. Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting.
Part 8/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 7/10)

2006-11-13T07:52:00.000+01:00

Using Referrals. (Part 7/10). The best way to approach someone who you don’t yet know is via someone they already know. This is type of approach is known as a using a ‘referral’. A good referral gives you privileged access to an open minded audience. When you contact someone via a referral you automatically have the same trust and respect that the person who gave the referral has. Make the most of this when describing your proposition or presenting your idea. Your success in sales is directly tied to the number and quality of referrals that you can generate.
How do you get referrals? Simple, you ask for them. Everyone that you meet is ready and willing to give you referrals – if you only ask. How you ask determines the number and quality of referrals you get. Here is a simple example: At the end of your next client meeting ask: “Can you suggest 2-3 colleagues of yours that may have the same needs or concerns as you?” Then ask: “Can I mention your name and refer to our discussion when I contact them?” 1) Write down the name, title, company, phone number and email address for each referral. 2) Confirm that you are able to use your contact’s name and make reference to your discussion. Example: “Mr. Smith, I was given your name by Mary Jones at 123 Ltd., who suggested that I contact you. My company is working with Mary to reduce in-store shop lifting and she thought that you would be interested by the positive results she has obtained using our ABC anti-theft device in her 5 largest city stores.” With an opening introduction like this you will capture your prospect’s full and undivided attention and suddenly doors will be opened at all levels of your prospect’s organization. Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting.
Part 7/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 6/10)

2006-11-06T07:54:00.000+01:00

Leverage the network of contacts and industry knowledge of Journalists (Part 6/10). Journalists are well connected and knowledgeable about a lot of things that are of interest to you and your business. They have a high level view on what is happening in your field and they always know a lot of important people. The sort of key people that you would like to know! Because Journalists speak to industry leaders, thought leaders in your sector, your competitors and even your customers you need to get close to them and make them part of your ‘virtual team’
Interview a Journalist. Yes, use deviant thinking and reverse the conventional roles. How? Invite a Journalist to participate on a conference panel that you are organizing. Ask them to present an industry overview or speak about future trends or challenges that your industry is facing. Why? 1) This gives you credibility because they are seen as an independent thought leader. 2) He/she will talk about you and your business to others afterwards.
Get them to talk about you and your business. Invite or sponsor a Journalist to moderate an industry seminar or a customer event. Or ask them to speak about customer’s problems and solutions that are available today. Or ask them to present a specific case study. You and your solution will be associated with the Journalist’s presentation and remarks. Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting.
Part 6/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 5/10)

2006-10-30T16:30:00.000+01:00

Leverage Your Client’s Supply Chain (Part 5/10). The idea here is to prospect amongst your client’s customers, suppliers, partners or competitors. In other words, look for sales opportunities in your client’s “business eco-system”. Let me give you 3 simple examples of how you can do this.
Client’s Customers: Suppose that one of your customers supplies their services to the maritime shipping industry. Your company sells a software solution for Human Resource Management that is perfect for managing the crewing of large maritime fleets. Ask your client for an introduction to 3 of their largest maritime shipping customers.
Client’s Suppliers: Another one of your clients uses PCs from a major PC manufacturer. Your HR management system runs most economically and reliably on certain configurations of that hardware manufacturer’s machines. Ask your client for an introduction to that Hardware Vendor, then propose your solution to the Hardware Vendor’s channel partners as an turn-key solution to meet their customer’s HR Management needs.
Client’s Competitors: Your client’s competitors are also excellent targets for you to prospect. Often they have the same or similar business problems and you have firsthand experience of how your solution helps solve these problems. In addition to being an established supplier in their sector, you have a reference customer who is a respected competitor.
Navigate your client’s supply chain and you will uncover a gold mine of prospecting opportunities for your products and services. Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting.
Part 5/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 4/10)

2006-10-23T09:40:00.000+02:00

Speeches and Public Appearances (Part 4/10). Here is one of my favorite prospecting ideas, which I have used successfully for many years and I can assure you that it works. Create leads by making speeches and other public appearances. This requires becoming a subject matter expert in your chosen field. This is easier than you may think. Chose an area of interest that you are knowledgeable and passionate about, or chose an area of interest that you clearly know more about than most people. Then accept every opportunity you can get to address a group, speak on your subject, be part of a panel, or participate in a discussion group, etc. It’s all high visibility exposure and that is exactly what you’re looking for.
People will come up to you afterwards and give you their business cards. This is reverse psychology at its best. After you have spoken to a group you are no longer the same person. You have been transformed into an expert, a guru, somehow you have become super human. This makes everyone want to meet you, talk to you, and get your business card. Take plenty with you. Use this technique to create pull, rather than push. So put the odds in your favor. You’ll have people truly hoping that you will contact them as a result of your brief exchange of business cards. Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting.
Part 4/10 in French

Lead Generation - No. 1 Sales Management Priority for 2006

2006-10-20T10:54:00.000+02:00

The Harvard Business Review July-August 2006 issue featured a number of thought leadership articles on sales. This week I met Jim Dickie who co-authored one of those articles entitled "Understanding What Your Sales Manager Is Up Against." Barry is a partner at CSOInsights who specialise in benchmarking the challenges faced by today’s sales and marketing organizations. CSOInsights track trends in the use of people, process, technology and knowledge to improve sales effectiveness.
The 3 "Take Aways" for me from our discussion were:
1) Revenue Growth has become the No. 1. Priority for Executive Management for the first time in 5 years.
2) Optimising Lead-Generation Programs is the No. 1 Priority for Top Sales Management this year.
3) The July-August issue of HBR on Sales generated significantly greater than normal interest from readers, measured by the number of article reprints ordered.
All this goes to show that Sales is where it all begins and propsecting is where the sale starts. Remember Always Be Prospecting.

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 3/10)

2006-10-15T09:34:00.000+02:00

Networking on the Web (Part3/10). Today we all have access to an extraordinary range of powerful web based tools to search out opportunities and prospects. You can use web search tools with laser precision to target new prospects. You can google your way to anyone. In addition you can search extremely effectively for example by searching Industry and Association Websites or Networking Websites, such as Linked-in, OpenBC, or Viaduc.
Maximise your chances of success. Recently I ran a search in Linked-in of all people in High Tech, based in Paris, and ordered them based on the number of people in their personal networks. My goal was to meet those individuals with the largest personal networks because they can introduce me to greatest number of their contacts (‘n+1 thinking’). Several weeks ago, on a flight from Stockholm to Paris I sat next to the French Country Manager of OpenBC, Yann Mauchamp. Yann is a professional and takes his business very seriously. He has over 3,500 people in his personal network of professional contacts. Now that’s the sort person that I want to know. With friends like this, being a prospecting machine has never been easier. Good Luck and remember Always Be Prospecting
Part 3/10 in French

Teaching Elephants How To Dance

2006-10-11T07:43:00.000+02:00

This week I was speaking to a group of Business Executives at the Paris Country Club about the Power Of Partnerships. I was invited to address the group by two KPMs (Key Partner Managers). The KPMs are tasked with bringing together their organisation and their Partner Organisation around specific customer engagements. These are large and complex organisations (Elephants) and bringing them together in an effective way is like "Teaching Elephants How To Dance". The desired outcome of "Dance School" is to make a joint Value Proposition that is perfectly aligned with the customers requirements and delivers a true fit for purpose solution. This takes mutual commitment, shared expectations, co-ordination and teamwork that continues on long after the sale in made.

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 2/10)

2006-10-06T17:59:00.000+02:00

The Magic of Networking (Part 2/10). In fact prospecting is networking with a purpose. To be a successful networker you need to meet as many people as you can, have a clear objective in mind for each meeting and have an “n + 1” belief system. That is never expect to be talking to someone who is directly a prospect for your products or services, but be sure that person will know at least one person who is a potential prospect. And it is this person that you want to make contact with, meet and ultimately make a your proposal to.
How do I become good at networking? Firstly, I suggest that you join one or two networking groups such as business groups or business luncheons, eg. Lunch @ Circle, business clubs, associations, special interest groups, eg. Toastmasters International, School or University Alumni’s. Secondly, start a file of meeting participant and keep updating it regularly. Thirdly, make a conscientious effort to keep your network active by maintaining regular contact and expand it with new contacts. Find ways to add value to your contacts by thinking of ways that you can help them. ‘Give before you get’ is the mind-set for success in networking. Your effort will be rewarded generously over time. Finally, make it a habit. Good luck and remember, Always be Networking and you will Always Be Prospecting.
Part 2/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prospects (Part 1/10)

2006-10-03T05:35:00.000+02:00

Conferences, Exhibitions & Trade Shows (Part 1/10). Conventional thinking in prospecting says use all the traditional approaches such as Newspapers, Magazines, Journals, Periodicals, Reviews, Newsletters, etc. My experience has shown me that conventional approaches produce very conventional results, which are usually inadequate to transform your success in sales today. Here is one very simple technique that I use and have found very successful. It is easy to do, inexpensive and it works. Try it and see how many qualified prospects you can identify for an investment of 3 hours of your time.
Conferences, Exhibitions & Trade Shows. Participate in as many of these events as you can. Industry Events that are for your target customers or related to your target customers business are a prospector’s gold mine. Simply spend time there talking to people. Talk to everyone that you can. From conference attendees, to people that you meet during coffee breaks, to Conference Speakers and Panelists. At Exhibitions and Trade Shows talk to exhibitors, sales people on exhibitor booths and people you meet on the exhibition floor. Sales people are dying to tell you about what they do, their company and their products. Let them sell to you. Learn from them about their industry, the key Industry Players, their sales arguments, their positioning and whenever possible find out their PAIN points. You will go home with a rolodex of business cards. The Exhibitor Catalogue is a prospector's bible. Good luck and remember, Always Be Prospecting.
Part 1/10 in French

10 Ways To Find More Prospects - Introduction

2006-09-25T12:37:00.000+02:00

Read about what I have to say in '10 Ways To Find More Prospects. How to Achieve Sustainable Performance in Sales' in today’s Metro Newspaper. This is the first in a series of 10 articles which was published today in a new column entitled Special Coaching Commercial, in the Careers and Employment section of Monday’s edition of Metro. For additional information go to Metro’s Website to see the article in English and French.
Metro Article Intro in French

Metro Article Intro in English

Exceptional Selling

2006-09-21T17:59:00.000+02:00

Exceptional Selling, the name of this book says it all. In today's increasingly competitive world the business invariably goes to the better sales person. Better in moving the customer through the sales process and better in terms of personal selling skills.

Exceptional Selling. How The Best Connect And Win in High Stakes Sales was written by Jeff Thull, who also authored, "The Prime Solution" and "Mastering The Complex Sale". If you want to move your personal selling skills up a notch or two, or more, then this book is a must read and an excellent investment in your better future.

Exceptional Selling was released on September 12th and is available from amazon.com.

Flipping The Funnel

2006-09-19T15:23:00.000+02:00

At Lunch@Circle today many of you expressed interest in a recent article entitled "Flipping the Funnel. Give Your Fans the Power to Speak Up." by Seth Godin. This article builds on many of the great 'new paradigm' ideas that Emmanuel Vivier from Culture-Buzz described at lunch. The key idea of Flipping the Funnel being to inverse the conventional status quo and get your clients and customers to promote your goods and services, or virtual Word of Mouth. The key Take Away for me today was: Influence = Sharing. In the online world what you bring to others is your measure of value, credibility and influence.

To download the article go to: Download Now

Go-To-Market Strategy Mapping

2006-04-16T22:54:00.000+02:00

Go-To-Market Strategy Mapping is the visual representation of the linkages necessary to construct routes to market through complex business eco-systems. In B2B sales, constructing a simple a clear Business Partner channel to market can be difficult and time consuming. Using GTM Strategy Mapping you can see the Partner profiles and interconnections necessary to reach your final customer and this will help you build detailed and specific Partner Value Propositions. Ultimately you must ensure that each business in the the end-to-end value chain has a valid and viable role to play and that ultimately these interactions translate into meaningful value for your final customer.

Mastering the Complex Sale

2006-02-23T15:58:00.001+01:00

Jeff Thull, world renowned speaker and author of Mastering the Complex Sale and The Prime Solution speaks in Paris. Jeff delivered an outstanding 90 minute Keynote Address and ran 2 breakout sessions on Diagnostic Selling at GL Trade's Annual International Sales & Marketing Meeting, held at Disneyland Paris in January, 2006. Mastering the Complex Sale and The Prime Solution are available from Amazon.com. Buy Online Now

Digging for Gold

2005-12-27T20:20:00.000+01:00

Here I am "data mining" in a corporate group. The idea is to ensure that everyone in the audience is 1) awake and 2) on the same page. After each presentation I go into the audience digging for gold: Take Aways or Ahas! I randomly select someone from the audience to give me (and the group) their top 3 Take Aways or Aha's from the previous presentation or from earlier sessions in the program. As a general rule, this creates enormous fun for everyone except the person being questioned. BTW: The handsome individual immediately to the right of the person being question is Benoit Guinel.

Culture Clash. Getting US and French Corporate Cultures To Behave As One

2005-12-17T18:31:00.000+01:00

Working the room at Genuity International's Sales Kick-Off at the Hilton Charles De Gaulle Airport Hotel in Paris, France. Great, action packed program.
What was significant here was the mixing of two very different and almost incompatible corporate cultures. One being highly command/control-centric and hierarchical and the other being very informal, open and individualistic or people-centric in its culture and decision making.
The single greatest outcome of this meeting was the integration of these two cultures through: 1) recognition, 2) understanding, 3) appreciation and 4) respect of each other's business culture and mode of operation. Success in today's global business environment comes in a large part through cultural diversity.

Sales Seminars & Sales Conference Event Planning

2005-12-17T15:20:00.000+01:00

Here is the visual event plan of an up coming Sales Kick-Off that I am organising in January, 2006. Promises to be an exciting event. I will be MC and delivering a keynote entitled 10 Ways To Find More Prospects. Also I will be bringing to Europe one of the top US Sales Consulting "Gurus" as a Special Guest Speaker. He will deliver a keynote and lead several break-out sessions on Diagnostic Selling.
BTW: The software tool that I created this with is MindManager Pro 6. It's very powerful for brainstorming and planning, and easy to use. For more info go to www.mindjet.com.

How to Achieve Sustainable Performance in Sales

2005-12-17T10:52:00.000+01:00

At the end of the day Sales Performance is only sustainable if you have a deep and well qualified prospect pipeline to draw on. So why do we all spend so little time and effort prospecting? Why doesn't cold calling work? How do you convert a cold call to a warm call to a lead? I have some ideas from life in sales that you might find interesting.....

MCing for BT Europe Sales Kick-Off, Vienna, Austria

2005-12-17T10:48:00.000+01:00

This is me as Master of Ceremonies for BT Europe at their annual Sales Kick-Off Meeting in Vienna, Austria. Big Event, 350 people from all over Europe. As you can see, I was having some fun with the group. Can you read my Badge? "Perfect Master", which is a spiritually evolved "Master" of Ceremonies. Of course! Why do I feel the need to explain this?

10 Ways to Find More Prospects

2005-12-16T19:44:00.000+01:00

Effective prospecting has got to be what separates the winners in sales from the rest. Effective Prospecting is the only way that I know of to achieve sustainable performance in sales. Nature gives us the basic rules but do we apply what we know? 'You can only reap what you sow'. So start sowing now. In fact, if I were you I would get a......'sowing machine' In sales a 'sowing machine' is what you will become if you apply a few simple ideas and execute them systematically and effectively. And this is the best way that I know to achieve consistent results in sales.

So what are the 10 ways to find more prospects?