Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 234
August 30, 2017
Non-Mutually Exclusive Projects
There are two kinds of projects out there: non-mutually exclusive projects and mutually exclusive projects.
Mutually exclusive projects are the ones where equipment fails and you need to replace it. Let’s say you’re evaluating three different replacements that have a good, better and best selection to choose from. You have nine choices in all. But ultimately, you have to take one out and put a new one in, and that means you need to choose the equipment with the best life-cycle cost, which is not necessarily the choice with the lowest first cost.
Non-mutually exclusive projects are even trickier. Let’s say you go into a building and say, “We could replace the HVAC, controls, or lighting, or perhaps add window films, solar panels and so on.” You don’t necessarily have to do the solar if you do the lighting and vice versa. This makes proposing improvements to a prospect an entirely different ballgame.
When you do non-mutually exclusive projects there are four rules:
1) You want to consider lowest life-cycle cost alternatives. For example, if you are thinking of replacing the boiler, that’s one of the things you could purchase with your available capital for invest in energy efficiency. You want to make sure that it’s the lowest life-cycle cost boiler, because otherwise you’ll wind up buying the wrong one.
2) You want to eliminate alternatives with negative net present value. Net present value is basically how many dollars you have left over after earning your discount rate on the dollar you invest. Most people don’t want to invest in things where they have less money at the end of the project than they did when they started when all cash flows are discounted back to their present value.
3) Keep in mind that there are certain exceptions to #2. For example, let’s say a school system has a boiler blow up. They have to replace it, but it’s going to have a negative net present value because it’s a capital replacement. It’s not being done to save energy, but to replace a capital aspect of the building.
4) You have to calculate each potential project’s modified internal rate of return (MIRR) or savings investment ratio (SIR). Modified internal rate of return is the MIRR function within Excel. Savings-to-investment ratio is a formula in which the present value of everything you receive over the course of the analysis term is divided by the present value of everything you invest in that same period. It will give you a finance jock’s version of “bang for your buck.”
Once you’ve figured things out, fund the investments in descending order of MIRR or SIR. This makes sense because if you have 10 things you could invest in, you’d probably want to do the project that would give you $4 back for every dollar you invest before you do one that would give you $1.50 back for every dollar you invest.
Lastly, you may have to choose what is highest priority because the investor doesn’t have enough money to do everything. However, if you follow these guidelines you’ll be in an excellent position to justify your recommendations.
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August 29, 2017
Take It out of the Realm
One of the smartest things you can do to sell efficiency is to never mention energy at all. Put the sale into the realm of something else people are going to care about.
For example, a controls contractor participated in our environmental optimization-training a year ago. Afterwards he was quoted in Buildings magazine saying, “If you take a look at tenant surveys, there’s a tremendous amount of productivity tied up in thermal comfort, air quality and personal sense of control.”
In short, the whole article in Buildings was not about saving energy at all. It was about increasing productivity and comfort while decreasing complaints. Bring that same attitude to the table while meeting clients. Talking about anything else may put them to sleep!
Another tip is to not talk about the utility bill or the equipment you’re selling. You should talk about what they care about. For example, if you’re talking to a landlord, you need to realize that one of their top priorities is to stop their phones from ringing with “too hot” / “too cold” complaints.
In a nutshell: don’t talk about energy, don’t talk about your equipment, and don’t talk about utility bills. You may think those are the top three things to talk about. They aren’t. Talk about something your prospect cares about instead.
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August 28, 2017
The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need
As these weekly blogs can attest, there is an overlap in the advice sales books have to offer. This week I’m recommending something that stands apart, a guide on how to be the best sales professional (and person) you can be, starting from the ground up.
Anthony Iannarino is a sales expert like many others, but some of his offerings are curiously original. His first book, The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, concentrates on an individual’s mindset and commitment – not only regarding their professional life, but their mental health. What’s more, his philosophy focuses on practices that aren’t emphasized as much in a sales guide, including:
Optimism
Caring
Accountability
Influence
The usual practices are covered as well (competitiveness, initiative, communication, etc.); together they form a rock-solid foundation for the challenges of the sales world. It isn’t only about what you’re doing in your field, but why and how; and ultimately, you’re given the opportunity to prioritize your mindset instead of your skill set, leading to more powerful results.
Here is the summary from Amazon:
“The USA Today bestseller by the star sales speaker and author of The Sales Blog that reveals how all salespeople can attain huge sales success through strategies backed by extensive research and experience.
“Anthony Iannarino never set out to become a salesman, let alone a sales manager, speaker, coach, or writer of the most prominent blog about the art and science of great selling. He fell into his profession by accident, as a day job while pursuing rock-and-roll stardom.
“Once he realized he’d never become the next Mick Jagger, Iannarino turned his focus to a question that’s been debated for at least a century: Why are a small number of salespeople in any field hugely successful, while the rest get mediocre results at best?
“The answer is simple: it’s not about the market, the product, or the competition—it’s all about the seller. And consequently, any salesperson can sell more and better, all the time.
“Over twenty-five years, Iannarino has boiled down everything he’s learned and tested into one convenient book that explains what all successful sellers, regardless of industry or organization, share: a mindset of powerful beliefs and a skill set of key actions, including…
·Self-discipline: How to keep your commitments to yourself and others.
·Accountability: How to own the outcomes you sell.
·Competitiveness: How to embrace competition rather than let it intimidate you.
·Resourcefulness: How to blend your imagination, experience, and knowledge into unique solutions.
·Storytelling: How to create deeper relationships by presenting a story in which the client is the hero and you’re their guide.
·Diagnosing: How to look below the surface to figure out someone else’s real challenges and needs.
“Once you learn Iannarino’s core strategies, picking up the specific tactics for your product and customers will be that much easier. Whether you sell to big companies, small companies, or individual consumers, this is the book you’ll turn to again and again for proven wisdom, strategies, and tips that really work.”
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August 27, 2017
Weekly Recap, August 27, 2017
Tuesday: Active Listening, Part Two.
Wednesday: Active Listening, Part Three.
Thursday: Learn how to overcome the price objection.
Friday: Discover the best times to ask for a referral.
Saturday: Check out this article in Fast Company on tips for mastering remote work.
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August 26, 2017
Tips for Mastering Remote Work
Technology has evolved so much that it has made it increasingly convenient to work from home or anywhere. Companies recognize the benefits of working from home for both the organization and their workers. In fact, we at Selling Energy have created thriving, engaged remote teams. As more forward-thinking companies adapt this approach, there are challenges when it comes to maintaining engagement.
Fast Company recently published a guide that walks you through the major challenges faced with at-home working and how to overcome them. Take a read and gain some insights into the methods that lead to productive, successful, enjoyable and rewarding at-home work.
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August 25, 2017
When’s the Best Time to Ask for a Referral?
Have you asked for a referral lately? There are at least six times when you should ask for a referral.
1) When a customer voluntarily suggests that your product is incredible.
2) When a customer sends an unsolicited testimonial.
3) When a customer refers someone to you.
One time someone called me with a referral. After thanking them for the referral they offered, I said, “You know what? You must have 10 people that fit that profile. I bet they’d all be interested in using our service.”
The guy told me, “Oh yeah, I have another half-dozen people. I thought about giving you all of them at the same time, but I know you’re a small company. I figured I’d give you one at a time.”
My answer was, “Oh, no, no, no. Give all of them to me now. I’ve got a staff.” The guy gave me several more names. Now if I hadn’t asked for additional referrals out of shyness, embarrassment or politeness, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to sell to those additional people!
4) When a customer admits, you’ve saved their rear end. That’s called psychic debt. They owe you a name.
5) When a strategic partner tells you about an association they’ve joined.
6) When you’ve completed a project with a customer.
Ask for a name right away. Now some people may say, “Wait a second. I completed the project, but isn’t it a little grabby to ask the person for a referral so fast? What if they don’t yet believe in you 100% and they’re waiting to see results that validate their gut feeling that you’re the real deal?”
First of all, don’t overthink it. Secondly, assume a person comes to me and says, “Great. We did this deal. Who else do you think in your circle of friends would enjoy having access to the same benefits?” At worst, I’m going to say, “Listen, you’ve been really good in the sales process and I have every reason to believe that what we bought from you is going to perform as promised. But you know what? I feel a little uncomfortable giving you referrals until I can see at least 60 or 90 days of actual operation… Are you okay with that?”
Now what does that mean? He’s giving you the license to call him for referrals within three months.
If you get the permission to call someone within 90 days and you don’t call him, you’re an idiot. You should put them in your Outlook calendar as a must-do call exactly 90 days from that day, because now you’ve got that one in the bag and the guy is going to remember the conversation.
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August 24, 2017
Lowering Your Price
There are certain people who will not do business with you unless you lower your price. They’ll feel like they’re winning or made a deal.
When someone asks me to lower my price I say, “Pardon me for asking an obvious question, but why do you ask?” They may say, “We can’t afford it,” or, “We think it’s high.” Until they tell you what’s going on you’re going to be left in the dark. Do they really think your price too high? Did they get a bid from somebody else and they thought yours was a lot higher?
They might say, “Well, we did this in another facility and it was a lot cheaper per square foot,” or, “Do you negotiate? Because we’d like to do business with you, but our guys are going for a cheaper price. We’ve got to see how far you can come down in return for giving you our business.”
You don’t want to be flip or arrogant when you respond. For example, you could say, “Well, let me be frank. We sharpen our pencil whenever we give a bid. We don’t go in thinking we’ll give you a price and then we’re going to haggle down to the real price we wanted, because that would be disrespectful to you.” I think that’s an honest, open way to respond rather than saying, “No, we don’t negotiate.”
There are other ways you can address their objections as well. You could say, “This is the best price we can do for the scope of services we’re offering. Now if you want less scope, we could certainly reduce the price. If you want to add scope, we could reduce the price as well to the extent that it afforded us an additional economy of scale. We can accept a lower margin if we do a larger job. Are you suggesting that you have other projects that you’d like to expand the scope to?”
In many cases, you’re finding a gentle way to answer the question “Could you lower your price?” with “Do you want less service?” If you couple this with the specific value you’re bringing to their situation, this would definitely give them pause.
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August 23, 2017
Active Listening, Part Three
Here are some additional active listening tips. Realize that restating what the speaker has said indicates you’ve heard them. But what if they say something negative? Do you want to repeat that? I don’t think so. You want to put a positive spin on what they’re saying, so while you let them know that you heard it, you should also let them know it might not be a completely negative thing.
How important is humor when listening? It’s really important, because in many cases people will indicate that they aren’t ready to leave their comfort zone. Using humor allows them to be more comfortable because it reduces the stress in a conversation.
Other questions you might ask yourself are:
Are you prepared to listen for what is not being said in the conversation?
What’s missing?
What does the speaker value?
What is the speaker concerned about?
Is there a question behind the question?
Have they asked a question that’s unusually vague?
Are there any changes in the speaker’s level of disclosure and/or tone when addressing certain topics or colleagues?
If they talk about something as if they’re happy about it – but shouldn’t be – you have to ask yourself, “Why are they doing that?”
Lastly, here are some advanced techniques:
Listen for keywords that can be used to build rapport and repeat them later in the conversation. This is a tenet of rapport-building taken from NLP training (i.e., neuro-linguistic programming).
You should listen for phrases that indicate whether your prospect’s primary communication modality is a visual, auditory or kinesthetic. If they say words like “see,” then they’re likely visual. If they say words like “sounds to me,” or “I heard him say,” then they’re likely auditory. If they say, “I feel strange about making this decision right now,” or “I think it’s going to be a heavy lift,” you might assume that the person is a kinesthetic person. This all comes out of the annals of neuro-linguistic programming as well, which I definitely recommend that you explore further.
Does the speaker favor certain phrases or metaphors that you could repurpose in your presentation or follow-up correspondence to gain additional rapport?
Bottom line: There are a lot of things that you can do to make sure that the person understands that you’re truly listening. Find the right methods for you, turn them into habits, and reap the benefits.
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August 22, 2017
Active Listening, Part Two
Today, we’ll continue with active listening tips.
A lot of people prefer to do things in person because they get more visual input: body language, gestures and facial expressions. But what if you’re on the phone and can’t see your prospect? Could closing your eyes make you a better listener? After all, you’re not looking at anything in your office. Your prospect is not there. If you close your eyes and listen, you will find that you get a tremendous uptake in available mental processing power. Just as a computer performs better with fewer high-intensity programs open at the same time, you’ll free up your brain’s processor… And when you do, you’ll be amazed at how many additional nuances you can pick up, just by listening: minute changes in volume, tone, breathing or communication lags (i.e., the time between the end of your question or statement and the beginning of their response).
Now, while you’re on the phone, how else can you allow people to know you are paying attention? Well, you can confirm what they’re saying with statements like:
“What I’m hearing you say is…”
“Help me understand this…”
“Let me make sure I’ve recorded this properly…”
You can also use listening noises, like “Uh-huh,” “I see,” “Tell me more,” “Hmm, that’s strange.” If you do choose to repeat something your speaker has said, make sure you paraphrase it, to imply that you’re not just parroting what they’ve said.
One of the more nuanced tips is to change “we” statements to “I” statements when speaking about your offerings. It demonstrates your personal commitment to your customer’s success. Don’t be afraid to use that to underscore that you’ll do anything necessary to make sure they’re successful once they engage your services.
Also, a word about notes. I’ve seen a lot of professionals use leather journals, copy books, composition books and Moleskines. There are a lot of ways to make hard copy notes. Frankly, I don’t like any of them. I take electronic notes by typing them into an Excel worksheet. It’s a format that is backed up immediately to the cloud and reliably searchable.
And while you’re taking those notes, be sure to jot down anecdotes the speaker has shared with you so you can reference in later in the conversation. Why? Because they’ll appreciate that you remembered a story they’ve told you.
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August 21, 2017
Simplifying Your Sales
As a sales professional, you’re encouraged to pursue as many possibilities as you can. However, if you take this to extremes you can end up feeling lost, ineffective and overwhelmed. Your day-to-day might seem as if you’re going after multiple targets with a machine gun, yet you aren’t getting as many “hits” as you had hoped. What if you could change your focus from being scattershot to getting things done in a single shot, nothing more?
In Mike Weinberg’s New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development there’s an emphasis on streamlining your processes, not only in how you generate leads but how you address your current prospects. Weinberg believes that it isn’t the actions of the sales professional that gets things done, it’s the reasoning for his/her actions; or as I put it, the “why.” You need to choose your targets carefully, understand how you’re bringing value to the table and make your interactions human through storytelling and sharing examples.
All of this is excellent advice, and not that different from what I teach around the world every year! Even if it goes hand in hand with what you already know, it’s definitely worth reading to reinforce good habits.
Here is the summary from Amazon:
“No matter how much repeat business you get from loyal customers, the lifeblood of your business is a constant flow of new accounts. Whether you’re a sales rep, sales manager, or a professional services executive, if you are expected to bring in new business, you need a proven formula for prospecting, developing, and closing deals. New Sales. Simplified. is the answer. You’ll learn how to:
– Identify a strategic, finite, workable list of genuine prospects
– Draft a compelling, customer-focused “sales story”
– Perfect the proactive telephone call to get face-to-face with more prospects
– Use email, voicemail, and social media to your advantage
– Overcome–even prevent–every buyer’s anti-salesperson reflex
– Build rapport, because people buy from people they like and trust
– Prepare for and structure a winning sales call
– Stop presenting and start dialoguing with buyers
– Make time in your calendar for business development activities
– And much more
“Packed with examples and anecdotes, New Sales. Simplified. balances a blunt (and often funny) look at what most salespeople and executives do wrong with an easy-to-follow plan for ramping up new business starting today.”
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