Business Record - Iowa Biz

Who are your Salespeople?

My argument is that everyone in your organization will at some point in time have to tell somebody else what they do. How cool would it be if everyone could tell a quick and compelling story that would both surprise and interest the listener?

Easier said than done. Jeff Garrison, the new director of sales at Precision Development Inc., has made his first order of business to get everyone telling the same elevator pitch.

Several years ago Jeff taught children tennis as a youth tennis coach. Like in any sport, it was vital to start by teaching the fundamentals. So every kid, regardless of age, size, skill level, et cetera, had to learn the strokes the same way. Turn your body perpendicular to the ball, take your racket straight back, swing up at the ball out in front of you and follow through over and over and over. For most, it felt awkward at first. But soon they could hit a consistent forehand. And eventually they would put their own style into their swing.

Teaching everyone in your organization the fundamentals of the elevator pitch until they are comfortable and confident just might increase your sales numbers over time.

According to K. Stone, author of the Life Learning Today blog, mentions “you only have 30-60 seconds to make a powerful first impression. The attention span of the average person is just 30 seconds before their mind starts wandering. The other reason is people have less time today. You need to grab them quickly or lose them forever”.

Here are Stone's suggestions for creating a powerful elevator pitch:

   1. Concise. Your pitch should take no longer than 30-60 seconds.

   2. Clear. Use language that everyone understands. Don't use fancy words thinking it will make you sound smarter. Your listener won't understand you and you'll have lost your opportunity to hook them.

   3. Powerful. Use words that are powerful and strong. Deliver the "Sis-Boom-Bang" to grab their attention!

   4. Visual. Use words that create a visual image in your listeners mind. This will make your message memorable.

   5. Tell a Story. A short story, that is. A good story is essentially this: someone with a problem either finds a solution or faces tragedy. Either type of story can be used to illuminate what you do.

   6. Targeted. A great elevator pitch is aimed for a specific audience. If you have target audiences that are vastly different, you might want to have a unique pitch for each.

   7. Goal Oriented. A kick-ass elevator pitch is designed with a specific outcome in mind. What is your desired outcome? You may have different pitches depending on different objectives. For instance, do you want to: make a sale, gain a prospect, enlist support for an idea, or earn a referral?

   8. Has a Hook. This is the element that literally snags your listener's interest and makes them want to know more. This is the phrase or words that strike a chord in your listener.

Can everyone in your organization serve up a powerful elevator pitch?

If You Build It, Will They Come?

I read a great post one time by Thom Singer at Some Assembly Required concerning the importance of sales and marketing plans...specifically, the execution of a plan (or lack thereof).

Thom writes about clients who feel once they have a different or unique business idea, customers will simply line up outside the door. He calls it the Kevin Costner School of Business Development and it may work for a short time, but someone eventually will come along with a similar idea and a way to execute it!

I'm somehow still surprised when sales people or sales organizations will tell me how they're struggling with something like sales or recruiting. I'll immediately ask them to show me their sales plan. Or I'll ask them to tell me about their long-term recruiting strategy. Nine times out of 10 they stare at me like a deer in headlights. Part of what we do at Merge Today is to encourage our clients to discover their brand and create sales and marketing efforts based on that brand. But ultimately it’s up to them to make it work, to execute.

Hoping to be successful and executing a well devised plan are two very different things. It's like the guy who watches the Olympics and goes out the next day to buy a treadmill. But inevitably it ends up being a very expensive clothes rack. Creating a sales plan is a great start, but you must willing to execute to see any results.

Are you ready to plan? Are you ready to execute?

Just Looking, Thanks!

I’ve been selling something as long as I can remember. I worked at a retail store in high school where I sold things like $30 jeans (that was a lot back then), and in college I sold drinks to thirsty students (not a difficult sale). I’ve sold integrated marketing services and for over 10 years I have been involved in executive recruiting, which has to rank up there with the most complex of all sales. I’ve learned a lot about sales over the past 15 years and some of the simplest lessons I’ve learned are the most important.

In the world of life insurance, which my family has been involved in for decades, Jack and Garry Kinder operate the best sales training organization in the business. Kinder Brothers International specializes in management training and sales training as it relates to all facets of the selling profession, and in their thirty-year history, they’ve worked with over 300 clients worldwide. Recently Garry Kinder published a book titled 50 Lessons in 50 Years.

Lesson #48 says don’t waste time with those who waste your time.

"Some people are time wasters. I tell young (life insurance) agents if the client says they want to think it over or they want to compare, hand them your business card and ask them to please give you a call once they’ve had a chance to think it over or compare. If they call you, great! If they don’t, you haven’t wasted your time with someone who’s wasting your time."

If you’re in the business of sales long enough you learn to quickly discern the tire kickers. Their motivations may be different but the result is almost always the same. Not only did you not make a sale but also you lost the time and the opportunity to truly be helping someone who needs your product or service.

So how do you discern the tire kickers in your business?

A Toast…To Preparedness

In my last post I wrote about how there is no better way to start your day than by being prepared. A common misconception about processes and planning is that it takes the spontaneity and creativity out of your work. Adam Carroll of Four Legacies Mortgage taught me otherwise. Creating processes and planning ahead actually allow for greater creativity.

Whether you’re throwing a birthday party for your two-year-old (which I did this past weekend), or you’re Sweet Lou Piniella preparing the Cubs for the playoffs, or you’re giving the toast at your best friends wedding…trust me…it’s always better to not wait until the last minute.

Here’s one of the greatest examples I’ve seen in years on planning ahead. This is especially timely for my "younger" professional friends (like Adam Steen, Andy Drish, or Tyler Osby) here in Des Moines who are about to embark on what will surely seem like a marathon of weddings over the next few years. If you are asked to be the best man in one of those weddings, one of the most important responsibilities you will have (other than getting the groom to the wedding) is toasting the bride and groom. Likely people will talk about that moment for hours, days, and perhaps even years after the wedding. It’s up to you whether those discussions are positive or negative.

For an example of what not to do, watch the wedding toast scene in the movie Wedding Crashers. But for an example of someone that planned ahead, check this out! WOW!

Next time you’re giving a toast, presenting an idea to your boss, or planning a cupcake themed birthday party for your two-year-old daughter, think about this guy’s toast. Just keep it in context, presenting an idea to your boss by parodying a Broadway musical could be a little over the top!

Can you think of a time when process or preperation has left the crowd wanting more? I know Drew McLellan and Mike Wagner have. How about you?

What Are You Doing Today?

Seriously. What are you doing today? Have you thought about it? You've had your two jugs of coffee. You've sifted through your email. You may have even gone over your fantasy football scores to start your day. If you are in sales it's now time to pick up the phone to begin calling your prospects. So...what are you doing today? Who are you going to call? Are you prepared?

If you haven't  created your daily sales plan then you might as well go back to the coffee shop. I would argue the number one reason sales people fail is due to lack of daily planning.

I've been involved in sales and recruiting for fifteen years and a guy named Peter Leffkowitz, President of the Morgan Consulting Group, taught me one of the greatest lesson I've ever learned...plan your work, work your plan. Sales is a career that involves both art and science. The people that study and practice both are by far the most successful of all their peers.

My suggestion is that you plan for tomorrow before you walk out of the office today. Don't "wing it". If you plan before you leave, you don't have to think about it. You can walk in ready to go and all the time that's typically wasted trying to figure out where you should start is behind you. I've noticed my day typically ends the way it started. If I come out of the gates sluggish and unprepared, that's how it ends. But if I start my day running...

Jim Meisenheimer at the Start Selling More Blog has a very basic and no-nonsense approach to being prepared. 

So, are you in control of your day or is it in control of you?

Bending the Rules

I'm not exactly a rebel or a trouble maker. Sure, I spent my fair share of time in Principal Miller's office in elementary school. I also was occasionally called out of class in middle school to visit the guidance counselor. But I rarely did anything to cause anyone harm. It was usually a case of me not following a certain process or a slight bending of the rules. Those meetings usually ended up in nice conversation with a few laughs and the advice "keep your nose clean" or "do better next time". The way I look at it is rather than being embarrassed that I had to go to the principal's office, I was building my relationship with the administration of my illustrious learning institution.

As long as I can remember this has been my goal. Whether it be with friends, clients, strangers or teachers. Always work to advance the relationship!

I understand and believe in the need to have a sequential sales process. But as Tom Peters points out in his recent post on sales goals, what often times will happen is that salespeople are so focused on getting to the next step that they miss the chance to have a great encounter during the meeting they are in at the moment.

Good salespeople know that getting to the next step is essential in the sales process. But Peters goes on to mention that what great salespeople know is that the sequential sales process is subservient to the current meeting. They know that the best way to get to the next step in the process is to create a relationship-building encounter in the present.

Have you ever developed a true friendship with a prospect before they became a client?

Do You Hear That?

It's the sound of your prospect walking away.                                             

You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open. 

– John Moe, Radio host and author of Conservatize Me. 

That is what was printed on the back of my Starbucks cup one morning. There’s a ton of truth to this. Sales is not about telling a prospective client how great your product, service or company is. And it's not telling them what they need. It’s about asking the right questions, closing your mouth, listening and offering the best solution to your client. Even if that solution means sending them and their money elsewhere. Being a good sales person takes patience, empathy, courage and yes, sometimes, silence. It’s amazing what a client will tell you if you just let them!

Here's what Scott Ginsberg (The Nametag Guy) said about listening.

And as for that uncomfortable silence? Let it happen. Those moments can be golden!

 

Are you sending ripples through your community?

We've all done it. And we still do it because it's fascinating.

When standing next to a beautiful still pond, we can't help it. We begin looking around for the nearest stone and toss it in so we can see the ripple that is created, and we stare in amazement as those ripples grow larger and larger. 

I was introduced to my wife after running into a mutual acquaintance of ours at a gas station. I met Blake Reding of REL Productions at my wedding because his wife was our decorator. And the first client I ever introduced to REL was someone I had come to know through my church.

It's through the power of relationships that our lives have been shaped. It's been my philosophy for sometime now that if I can help enough people in my network someday it will come full circle. And it has more than I ever could have imagined. Just recently I read a book that has had a profound impact on the way I think. More than anything it gave confirmation to the philosophy I have been practicing for the last year and a half. The name of the book is called The Ripple Effect and it was written by Steve Harper, a creative entrepreneur from Austin, TX.

The first paragraph of chapter 1 says it all:

The most powerful, the most successful, the most satisfying accomplishments in both your life and your business result from the relationships you form with other people in the world.

It's truly amazing how this law of reciprocity works.  How has this concept helped your business grow?

flickr photo courtesy of Richard Thompson.

Child's Play

Remember that game we played as kids, "Red Light, Green Light? The leader would yell "Green Light" and everyone would begin running as fast as they could towards the finish line. Then the leader would scream, "Red Light" and you'd have to stop dead in your tracks or be forced to start from the beginning!

Mahan Kahlsa suggests we should also watch and listen for the red lights and green lights when meeting with a prospective client.

A few weeks ago I had what at the time seemed like a good sales meeting. The client was giving me great information and I could quickly begin to understand where the issues were. When our time was up, we shook hands and agreed to get others involved and move forward through the process. Though I sensed a little hesitation in scheduling a follow up meeting, I let it go. I certainly didn't want to press the issue!

RED LIGHT!!!!

I haven't had a conversation with him since that day. I've put in a couple of phone calls and an eMail, but no response. Maybe I was caught up in the ideas and the solutions, and wasn't paying attention to what he was really saying.

Next time your moving through the sales process with a client, pay attention to the red lights. If you're truly engaged and listening you should see them flashing!

Whose agenda are you on?

I was given a sales book some time ago. Well, not so much a book as a 6" X 10" flip chart.

It was a flip chart of effective rebuttals to common objections. It was an entire book on sales techniques and tricks of the trade. How to steer the conversation, how to close the sale and how to persuade someone to do something they don't necessarily want to do.

It was written by one of those guys who claims he could sell a freezer to a penguin or talk a dog off of a meat truck.

It never made any sense to me. Then a couple of years ago I read a book called Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play - The Demise of Dysfunctional Selling and the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed by Mahan Khalsa.

Mahan Khalsa, vice president of the Franklin Covey Sales Performance Group, says that it's intent that matters much more than technique. Is it your intent to get the sale so you can buy that new car you've had your eye on or to win the quarterly sales contest? Or is it your intent to create the right solution for your prospect even if it means referring the business elsewhere?

Whose agenda are you on?

I believe most business owners and business leaders have become very intuitive and discriminating in who they are willing to trust. Our clients quickly process our intent. If your client gets the sense your intent is self-serving, they will quickly shut you out and the sale will die.

Mahan says few people can fake intent. My wife, a native Texan, says if it looks like duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck...it must be a duck!

Do you realize your intent before making a sales call?