Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 227
November 7, 2017
Turn a “No” into a “Yes”
What do you do when a prospect tells you that they are not interested in your product or service? Many salespeople would just say, “Thank you for your time,” and move on to the next prospect. An efficiency sales professional, on the other hand, would attempt to get to the bottom of it before deciding whether or not to walk away.
In many cases, you’ll find that there was a misunderstanding. Maybe they think they have to pay for it every month instead of just paying a one-time charge. Maybe they’re worried about a compatibility issue with a technology that they already have installed. Whatever the case may be, you really have to ask yourself what they may have misunderstood about the message, the proposed change, the implications… and why they believe that the change doesn’t make sense for their organization.
You can even ask them a simple question. For example, “What is it about our value proposition that isn’t resonating with you?” If there’s a misunderstanding at play, the answer they give may surprise you. Maybe they didn’t understand your proposal, or maybe you didn’t communicate it well in the first place. At this point, you should remedy the situation: “I must be a terrible communicator! I’m so sorry. What I meant to communicate is…” And then you tell the real story.
I can tell you from experience that it pays to take the time to figure out what is going on in your prospect’s mind. By clarifying a simple misunderstanding, you can quickly turn a “no” into a “yes.”
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November 6, 2017
Find Your True North
The business world isn’t always known for its best examples. Companies rise and fall when they are led by power-hungry and selfish leaders. Employees work from day-to-day without a sense of loyalty or passion, proving that fear and intimidation can only take success so far. The reason is simple: when the person (or people) in charge decide their own self-interests take precedence over the “why” of their business, they have lost their way.
This is where the concept of “true north” comes in. Bill George believes that authentic leadership depends on the person’s “internal compass,” which is their core values, their inner direction and the lessons they’ve earned from challenging experiences. The book is based on interviews with 125 leaders and investigates how their values apply to their success.
The ultimate question is “What motivates you to be a leader?” The answers are varied and surprising, but it will prompt you to ask yourself the same thing. If you don’t know (or find yourself working for someone who doesn’t), it’s definitely time to do some soul searching.
Here is the summary from Amazon:
“True North shows how anyone who follows their internal compass can become an authentic leader. This leadership tour de force is based on research and first-person interviews with 125 of today’s top leaders – with some surprising results. In this important book, acclaimed former Medtronic CEO Bill George and co-author Peter Sims share the wisdom of these outstanding leaders and describe how you can develop as an authentic leader. True North presents a concrete and comprehensive program for leadership success and shows how to create your own Personal Leadership Development Plan centered on five key areas:
Knowing your authentic self
Defining your values and leadership principles
Understanding your motivations
Building your support team
Staying grounded by integrating all aspects of your life
“True North offers an opportunity for anyone to transform their leadership path and become the authentic leader they were born to be.”
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November 5, 2017
Weekly Recap, November 5, 2017
Tuesday: Check out 7 principles that are essential to the sales cycle.
Wednesday: Explore some things to keep in mind as you prepare your elevator pitches.
Thursday: Check out if anonymous referrals are worth using.
Friday: Learn two things that people often avoid to secure your future success.
Saturday: Check out “The 4 Types of Productivity Styles” for insights on how our methods of productivity are personal and can be synched with our natural inclinations.
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November 4, 2017
4 Productivity Styles
On today’s productivity-focused blog, we emphasize that there is not one specific tool or way to be productive that works for everyone. Learning and implementing a system that works for you may take some time and practice, but can lead to more productive work sessions.
In an article published by online productivity and leadership magazine 99u, “The 4 Types of Productivity Styles” gives insight on how our methods of productivity are personal and can be synced with our natural inclinations. The following are the four productivity styles:
The Prioritizer: “A Prioritizer is that guy or gal who will always defer to logical, analytical, fact-based, critical, and realistic thinking.”
The Planner: “The Planner is the team member who thrives on organized, sequential, planned, and detailed thinking.”
The Arranger: “An Arranger prefers supportive, expressive, and emotional thinking. They are the ultimate team player and excel at partnering with colleagues to get work done.”
The Visualizer: “A Visualizer prefers holistic, intuitive, integrating, and synthesizing thinking. “
The article also shares detailed insight on how each type functions and contributes to the team, while also suggesting a list of productivity tools to help each type succeed. If you are interested in learning more about these productivity styles, we highly recommend checking out the full article.
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November 3, 2017
How to Secure Your Future Success
When business is booming and you don’t have much free time on your hands, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to plan ahead for the future. I can tell you with confidence that the most successful people in this world find a way to dig their well before they’re thirsty, even when they’re very preoccupied with the present.
So what kind of planning should you be doing to secure your future success? The two things that people often avoid when they’re too busy are prospecting and self-improvement.
Prospecting: “I’ve got too much work on my plate to be out networking and generating new leads.” Does this sound familiar? Even when you have more business than you can handle, it’s crucial that you set aside some time to seek out new prospects, especially if your sales cycle is long. Just because you’re having a successful month or year doesn’t mean the pattern will continue indefinitely.
Self-improvement: A lot of people think that they don’t have time to read sales information or improve their skills because they’re “too busy making their numbers.” Don’t fall into the trap of complacency. Schedule some time each day or each week for self-improvement. Read self-help sales training books and blogs, take a professional sales training course, find new ways to increase your productivity – there are dozens of ways to improve your skills; you just need to motivate yourself to continue growing and improving.
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November 2, 2017
Are Anonymous Referrals Worth It?
We all know how important referrals are for bringing in new business. I’ve had students ask me whether or not anonymous referrals are worth using. My answer? Absolutely. Referrals can work regardless of whether or not the source is revealed.
You might have a client say, “There’s a guy on the other side of the town that does the same thing that I do. I happen to know because one of his employees just joined our company. They have the same problems that you just helped us fix. You know what? Don’t tell him I told you. Just go over there. I bet you’ll get a sale out of him.”
Your client may be referring you anonymously because he doesn’t want to disclose that he actually has inside information about the other person’s business. Or maybe he doesn’t want it to be held responsible if the job doesn’t end up working out. Regardless of the reason your client chooses to remain anonymous, you should always take the referral. Maybe you’ll end up getting the sale… maybe you won’t. However, it’s far better than taking a shot in the dark with a random prospect!
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November 1, 2017
Elevator Pitch Tips
Every efficiency sales professional should have a handful of elevator pitches prepared, each one customized for a specific audience type. Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare your elevator pitches:
Your elevator pitch should be:
-Short and to the point
-Humorous
-Memorable
-Interactive (allows you to say something and pause for a response, or say something and ask a question)
-Conversational
Your elevator pitch should NOT be:
-A speech
-A soliloquy
-A pitch (in the traditional “sales pitch” sense)
-Longer than 15 seconds
Avoid fluff words that don’t really mean anything:
-“Finest”
-“Established”
-“Foremost”
-“Leading”
-“Pioneering”
-“Original”
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October 31, 2017
How to Be a ROQSTAR
A few months ago, I was given an excellent suggestion from one of my students regarding a sales program of his own! Since he and I have similar sensibilities it isn’t surprising that it goes hand in hand with our teachings at Selling Energy.
Mark Rogers volunteered that as he briefed his new salespeople, he used the acronym ROQSTAR™ to remind them of the seven principles that are essential to the sales cycle. Each word details a specific interaction you should have with your prospect:
Relate: Greet your customer
Open: “Thanks for seeing me.”
Question: “Tell me why you agreed to meet.”
Solution: “Here’s how we can help.”
Timing: “When will you do this?”
Action: “Let’s discuss the steps needed to do this.”
Review: “Here’s what we both just agreed to do and when.”
This sales breakdown is not only essential, but also easy to remember thanks to the acronym, “ROQSTAR.” It could be memorized or printed on a business card for safekeeping. Of course, that’s only the beginning. Applying it will ensure success!
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October 30, 2017
Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire
Getting ahead in this business requires forward thinking, creativity, and innovation. Unless your offerings are truly one-of-a-kind, you’re competing for the attention (and business) of your target audience. To create something that disrupts the market and captures attention, you need to leverage the collective creative power of your organization.
In Bruce Nussbaum’s book, Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire, Nussbaum argues that the most successful businesses value – and encourage – a culture of creativity. He breaks down “creative intelligence” into five core competencies: “Knowledge Mining,” “Framing,” “Playing,” “Making,” and “Pivoting.” Organizations that promote these competencies set themselves up for successful innovation. If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book.
Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:
“Offering insights from the spheres of anthropology, psychology, education, design, and business, Creative Intelligence by Bruce Nussbaum, a leading thinker, commentator, and curator on the subjects of design, creativity, and innovation, is first book to identify and explore creative intelligence as a new form of cultural literacy and as a powerful method for problem-solving, driving innovation, and sparking start-up capitalism.
“Nussbaum investigates the ways in which individuals, corporations, and nations are boosting their creative intelligence – CQ – and how that translates into their abilities to make new products and solve new problems. Ultimately, Creative Intelligence shows how to frame problems in new ways and devise solutions that are original and highly social.
“Smart and eye opening, Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire illustrates how to connect our creative output with a new type of economic system, Indie Capitalism, where creativity is the source of value, where entrepreneurs drive growth, and where social networks are the building blocks of the economy.”
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October 29, 2017
Weekly Recap, October 29, 2017
Tuesday: Learn to prepare some conversation “building blocks” in order to help navigate a conversation with a prospect towards your end goal.
Wednesday: How to Handle Myths and Objections, Part 1.
Thursday: How to Handle Myths and Objections, Part 2.
Friday: How to Handle Myths and Objections, Part 3.
Saturday: Check out this article in Success magazine online on “7 Ways to Be Thankful Every Day.”
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