Sell Your Kids

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Jim Archer

Salespeople like control. Surprisingly though, good salespeople can sometimes lose control when they get home with the kids.

My wife is a talented salesperson with extensive experience in working the tools of the sales trade. But after our son was born something changed. I noticed it when he was old enough to talk. She would ask him what he wanted to eat, and would get very frustrated with his inability to make a quick decision. All too often he would say “I don’t know”. Even worse was when he would ask for something we didn’t have. At that point his expectations had gotten to a point to where she would have to go out and get what he wanted or deal with a crying fit.

I watched her go through this aggravating experience several times before I finally I said to her “Honey, you’re a great salesperson. Why on earth would you ask an open ended question like that? You need to use your professional sales skills. Close him.”

“Huh?”, she said.

If there is one thing good sales people know, it’s how to close. To finalize the deal and move on to the next one. She didn’t seem to realize that she desperately needed to control the situation, just like she would in a professional sales situation.

“This situation is screaming out for the alternate choice close” I said. “Don’t ask what he wants for breakfast. First check what we have in the house, then offer him a choice. ‘Do you want pancakes or cereal?’ ‘Bacon or scrambled eggs?’”

The alternate choice close allows you to take control and, at the same time, make your prospect feel like they have control. As any parent should know, control is something children crave. As they grow they feel compelled to assert their independence for reasons they don’t even understand. Offering choices allows them to satisfy this need while you maintain your control.

Naturally, spouses of both sexes don’t like to admit the other one is right but my wife had to acknowledge that I made a good point. She was especially surprised that she hadn’t thought of this on her own. From then on she made good use of this classic sales tool and life got just a little easier.

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Salespeople, How Ya Doin’?

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Jim Archer

What’s your opinion? When a salesperson first encounters a prospect, should they ask “How are you?”, “How ya doin?” or otherwise inquire into the well-being of the individual?

There are two schools of thought. Some salespeople think it’s the right thing to do because it helps establish a rapport and failing to ask would be rude. Others think it is a blatantly phony waste of time.

To me, the correct answer depends on whether the encounter is in person or a cold call on the phone. Meeting the prospect in person for the first time, it seems more of a requirement. On a cold sales call, it gets in the your way.

In business, efficiency wins. Being able to achieve your goals faster means you can make more money and get home sooner. Some business people will think you are rude if you disrespect their time with a transparently fake interest in their health.

Do you really want to know? What would you do if they told you the truth?

Imagine hearing a response like:”Well, my acid reflux was acting up last night so I didn’t get much sleep which means I’m really worn out and barely able to keep my mind on anything anyone says to me. Not to mention being distracted by the fact that my wife wants me to talk to her brother-in-law about whether he might be fooling around, which, of course I really don’t want to do. I don’t trust the guy to tell me the truth even if he said he was fooling around. So I really hope your selling the solution to those problems.”

Personally, when a salesperson asks me how I am on a cold call, I say “Fine, thanks” but I’m thinking “You don’t really want to know and I wish you wouldn’t waste my time. Now I feel obligated to respond with a feigned interest in your personal life, and you better not tell me the truth.”

Remember, I’m talking about a business situation on the phone. If you’re calling someone at their residence you might feel the more of a need to ask, but you are still calling to make a sale which means you are conducting business and going off on personal tangent at the opening of a cold business call is rarely appropriate.

Establishing rapport is vital in sales, of course, but I have more appreciation for a salesperson who respects my time. Get to the point. Ask me if I even have the problem that your product or service can solve. Once you’ve shown that you can help me, then I’ll have more patience for the small talk.

I thought I should do a poll inquiring on what salespeople think on this question. Then it dawned on me that salespeople should be more concerned with what the prospect thinks.

See the poll question on this site and answer the question from the customer’s point of view, as if a salesperson was calling you.

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Selling Them That They’re Wrong

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Jim Archer

The customer on the phone was ready to rip my head off.

He had been told, by someone else, that his project could be accomplished in time for him to avoid a major inconvenience. Now his deadline was at hand, the goal was not achieved and, since he couldn’t reach the person he had spoken to before, I was getting the brunt of his wrath.

He was one of those loud, pushy types who find success through intimidation. I could imagine him badgering the other representative into suggesting that it was possible to have the regular schedule altered for bullies like him. I knew I had to let him vent before telling him that there was no way he was going to get what he wanted.

How was I going to deliver the bad new without getting another wave of verbal abuse?

Many years ago I had read Dale Carnegie’s classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Carnegie had interviewed successful people to find out how they got to where they were. The stories he collected showed how these accomplished professionals learned to use human nature to advantage. To deal with people in ways that made it more likely for them to reach mutually advantageous outcomes.

I thought of one of the stories that taught how it’s easier to point out a fault in others by finding one of our own.

A smile came to my face as I recognized myself in him.

When I finally had a chance to talk, I said “Sir, I know exactly how you feel. I, too, am a procrastinator. So many times I’ve allowed other things to get in the way and didn’t get started as early as I should have. I’d think ‘maybe I’ll get lucky and things will work out.’ But in the end I’d be frustrated hearing someone else tell me what I have to say to you right now, which is that ‘I’m sorry we will not be able to meet your deadline.’”

I braced for an onslaught but heard only silence. In that pause, it was as if I could hear him thinking,”He’s got me dead to rights.” He had nowhere to go.

When he finally spoke, he admitted that he had waited to the last minute. He confessed that he wasn’t really that surprised that things weren’t working out. It’s happened this way many times before and he knew that if he had taken action earlier he wouldn’t be so upset today.

It wouldn’t have gone so well for me if I had just blamed him. If I had said it was his own fault, I would have been right, but he would be even more furious than he was when he started. I would have added insult to the injury of the missed deadline.

Instead of attacking him, I found a fault of my own. The story I shared about myself got the message across, and there was no need for him to defend himself.

In sales, they say “the customer is always right.” It’s not actually true, of course, but how you sell them on the idea that they’re wrong can make the difference between having that customer in the future or losing them forever.

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Selling to the Sharks

Posted on September 18, 2010 by Jim Archer

Shark Tank is an ABC reality TV show that is a must see for anyone interested in business and selling.

In each episode you get to see entrepreneurs pitch their investment opportunity to a panel of venture capitalist sharks.

The sharks (Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Kevin Harrington, Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec) are all super successful entrepreneurs themselves. Each has a slightly different set of skills and interests but all provide a tremendous insight into what real money people think about when offered an investment opportunity. They know what it takes to win in the business world and will actually put their own money into opportunities they find worthy.

The show, produced by reality TV legend Mark Burnett, provides a tremendous opportunity to see sales pitches made in a dramatic setting. The success of the pitch might rest solely on the business merits, but can be heavily influenced by the sales skills of the person making the presentation.

In the 2 videos below, you will see how an entrepreneur does an expert sales pitch for his business.

Jonathan Miller is seeking an investment of $150k for a part ownership in his energy snack business called Element Bars. Jonathan has experience in the venture capital market and his performance is a wonderful example of taking the heat and rebutting the objections that are thrown at him left and right. Watch both parts and learn how important it is for any salesperson to be prepared.

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A Sales Lesson From Dr Jean

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Jim Archer

A good salesperson will address objections before they come up.

Dr Jean showed me how it’s done.

When my wife and I were expecting our son, we knew finding the right pediatrician was an important decision so we did our shopping around together.

If doctors have any negative reputation at all, it pertains to two things: Keeping you waiting and acting superior. The common perceptions are that they think their time is more important than yours and that, because of the time they spent earning their degree, they are smarter than you are.

The first thing Dr Jean did to preempt an objection was to show us she had respect for our time. Our appointment was a 2 pm, and not only were we ushered into her office on time, but she was actually there ready to give us her undivided attention. This was tremendously impressive by itself.

The next potential objection to be dealt with was the reputation of being arrogant. Because doctors are trained to save your life (sometimes able to bring you back from the dead), they are said to have a messiah complex. If you can perform such wonders you might easily feel superior to those who can’t. Not everyone can be a savior.

We knew that her knowledge base was far superior to ours. With her years of schooling, residency and decades in her professional practice it would be understandable for her to come across as condescending. After all, we hadn’t even had our first child yet. But she didn’t talk down to us at all. In fact, she understood the natural anxiety we were feeling as first time parents. She knew that we were nervous about the huge step we were taking into a world that we knew very little about. She told us something that made us feel better about ourselves and her. She said “There is nothing that I know that you can’t learn.”

My wife and I sat there stunned. Our jaws dropped open.

Did we just hear a doctor say that? A doctor who actually dismissed any claim to superiority? Her expression not only made us feel better about ourselves, it sold us on her. We knew we could look far and wide but we would never find a doctor we were going to like more.

Dr Jean was not a salesperson, but she was well aware of the importance to her success of convincing new parents to choose her practice over the competition. And she did. She closed us on a long term professional relationship.

Fifteen years later, I still remember that sentence, word for word. “There is nothing that I know that you can’t learn.”

If we are to learn from Dr Jean we, as salespeople, must first identify the potential negatives of the product or service we offer. Then, by addressing it before it comes up, we can feel better about our chance at sales success.

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Covert Hypnosis: An eBook Review

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Jim Archer

Covert Hypnosis, an eBook by Kevin Hogan, is targeted, primarily, at salespeople who want to improve their sales skills and make more money.

You’ll have to agree that the title is intriguing. It just makes you want to buy it. And, when a salesperson feels compelled to buy something, he knows he has to take a closer look. There must be  valuable lessons to be learned.

Covert Hypnosis, according to Hogan, is accomplished when one person sends a message to another person who receives it without significant critical thought or questioning.

It’s not about inducing a trance as much as shifting a person’s ego state, replacing resistance with compliance. Helping your prospect to adjust from a volatile state to a happy or scholarly one, for example.

The principal ideas in the book can find their genesis in our DNA’s need for survival. Salespeople, Hogan reports, can improve productivity by framing products or services in terms that address the basic needs of nature: food, avoiding or defeating threats and procreation. We can increase our sales when we understand how our offering help the customers with their natural desires for power, status, independence, and their sense of honor and loyalty.

Unconscious communication can be enhanced using concepts like scarcity, expectations, contrast, and others.
We can profit from contrast, for example, by understanding that our prospects are more likely to buy the appropriately priced item if more expensive options are offered first.

Hogan tells of many impressive studies, including one that shows how using the word “because” in your rebuttals
will significantly increase your odds of successfully overcoming an objection. (Don’t just say “because”, of course. You must use the word as part of a longer explanation.)

The question of ethics is addressed repeatedly. While the lessons can be used for less honorable purposes, Hogan
advises his readers that they must represent a superior product or service to maintain their self esteem. If your offering isn’t the best, “dump it”, he says, and go get a better one.

The overall quality of the book could have been enhanced with stronger editing. While the instances of grammatical errors are not overwhelming, they do occur too often enough to be ignored. I also found myself annoyed, early on, by the excessive number of times that Hogan tells us what we will learn later in the book. I’d prefer it if he got to the point faster.

Covert Hypnosis is chock-full of usable tools that can help any salesperson improve their presentation skills.

Simply reading a sales book will not increase your income, of course, anymore than reading a book about golf will improve your swing. If you do the exercises in the book, however, and work the principals into your pitches, practicing and using them repeatedly, you are sure to find that you’ve made a profitable investment in Covert Hypnosis.

Purchase Covert Hypnosis

Be advised that while you reviewer receives commissions for purchases made through affiliate sales links for this product, the views expressed are honest, independent opinions.

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Sales Seminar Viewing Requirement

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Jim Archer

“This scene should be shown in every sales seminar in the world.” So said the late film critic, Gene Siskel.

In a 1996 public radio benefit, renowned critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were invited to present film clips that each considered to be among their favorite movie scenes.

Siskel, who passed away 1999, chose a clip he described as “One of the greatest pick-up scenes in the history of American film”. From director Richard Linklater’s 1995 release “Before Sunrise”, the scene depicts a young couple, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who meet on a train in Europe.

Watch the scene, written by Linklater and Kim Krizan, then continue post below.

As Siskel suggested, all salespeople should be inspired by the pitch made by Hawke’s character. The imagination and the painting of the picture. The “what if” and “nothing to lose” factors. The fantasy. The humor. The fun. The prospect of satisfying curiosity and the happy ending. Altogether too enticing to resist.

If we, as salespeople, could incorporate these elements into our presentations, we could be unstoppable.

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Surprising Sales Success

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Jim Archer

Telme Wadisay was a surprisingly good salesperson.

We worked different shifts at a call center several years ago so I never really knew him. What I did know was that his name was consistently near the top of our company’s sales production reports.

His sales success was surprising to me because, as a recent immigrant from Africa, he had an accent so thick that few of us could understand what he was saying. You’d think this would be a significant problem, especially for phone sales, where your voice is the only tool you have.

One day, I finally had an opportunity to be within earshot while he was on a call. What I heard was memorable.

He was energetic, friendly and assertive. He sounded confident that his prospect would be very pleased with his offer.

His prospects may not have understood more than a few words of every sentence he spoke, but he had the good sense to end nearly every sentence with a very simple, understandable close: “O.K.?”

I would not be surprised if his prospects were totally befuddled as they listened to him. They were probably too embarrassed to admit that they had no idea what he was talking about. What they could understand was the simple, non-threatening question: “OK?”

He sounded nice. Friendly, You didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Each time he would ask “OK?”, his prospect would respond with “OK.” Granting him permission to continue over and over until the final agreement to accept the offer.

A student of sales techniques would identify several classical theories all rolled into one presentation:

  • Assume the prospect will buy.
  • Get the prospect to say yes repeatedly.
  • Ask for the sale.
  • Always be closing.

An incomprehensible offer is not going to work in most situations, of course, but I will never forget how these classical, time tested sales techniques were used so successfully in such an unusual way.

Telme Wadisay is not his real name. I wish I could give him proper credit but I can’t remember his actual name and I never could pronounce it. His delivery always made me think of the old Ray Charles song:”Tell Me, What I Say”.

The lesson his example taught me, though, is one I will never forget. I’d suggest you remember it as well.

OK?

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Always Be Closing

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Jim Archer

Succeeding in sales can be as simple as A.B.C. “Always Be Closing.”

Such is the advise given to a small group of real estate sales reps in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross.

While the advise is a classic sales maxim, the character offering the lesson never explains the phrase.

To close a sale is to get the prospect to make the commitment to accept the offer. To finalize the deal. To get them to sign on the dotted line and fork over the money.

One cannot always be finalizing the deal. This classic phrase is, of course, not meant to be taken literally. What it means is that the salesperson should always be moving forward to the target of closing the deal.

To be more productive as salespeople, we should look closely at what we do.

Does our greeting send the clear message that we are ready to help them get what they want?

Are we asking the questions that show them we are interested in their needs. Not just to build rapport, but to qualify them. Should we be spending our precious time with this individual or do we need to find the actual decision maker?

Are we framing the presentation of our product in terms that relate to their needs?

Are we using words and phrases that evoke the emotional part of their decision making process. How they could feel proud of the quality of their purchase. How they could feel more secure with your product. How they deserve the joy the product brings. The relief that they can feel by putting an end to their frustrating search. Won’t it feel good to get this out of the way, so they can get on with their life?

Are we doing our minor point closes based on the needs they expressed earlier? Asking questions that get them to say “yes” repeatedly? And when we have the final commitment, are we getting referrals so we can go out and close more sales?

Going off on unrelated tangents is not closing. Distractions are not profitable.

Take a look at each step you take in your presentation and you may find opportunities to improve your income.

To “always be closing” may not be literally possible, but the concept can help you make more money.

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Sales as a Craft

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Jim Archer

A craft is an art, a trade or an occupation requiring skill.

In sales, like most crafts, a certain amount of talent is needed as a foundation.

For a lucky few, talent combined with opportunity is enough to succeed.

Most of us, however, will need to continually improve our sales skills to keep our competition from putting us out of business.

By studying, observing, reading, watching, listening and practicing, learning from others and from ourselves, we can not just survive, but thrive. Achieve success and make more money.

At SalesCraftStudio.com the goal is to provide a place where practitioners of the craft can go for inspiration, information, insights and some fun.

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